


From A - Z In 26 Days

by dreamcatcher (darcangell23)



Category: Glee, Glee RPF
Genre: Alphabet Klaine!, Collective Stories!, Family, M/M, crisscolfer, multiple AUs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-15
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-12 10:51:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1185377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darcangell23/pseuds/dreamcatcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris and Darren's daughter needs to learn the alphabet by the end of the month. So they decide to teach her by telling one story about Kurt Blaine for every letter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Alphabet Klaine](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1167410) by [zavocado](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zavocado/pseuds/zavocado). 



> I know I have been off the scene since I finished the Glee/Hunger Games crossover and that's because I've been trying to get a stable idea. I needed something fresh. This story is inspired by Alphabet Klaine. I asked the author permission to use the concept and put my own spin on it.
> 
> Now, I know that I have marked this as explicit and Chris and Darren would never tell a four year old explicit stories. That rating is for later chapters when the story telling may not always be for their daughter. Gotta get some behind closed doors right?
> 
> Anyway, this is my new project and I'm hoping to stick it through for a while because it'll mean new plots for every chapter. Those of you waiting on the sequel to May the Glee Be Ever In Your Favor, bear with me and please be patient as I try to map out how I'm going to do that one, considering I used almost everybody in the first one. So that might take me a while.
> 
> Without further ado, I present the prologue! Comments make me smile! Enjoy!

"But I don't want to go to bed!" Chris and Darren both glanced at their little girl who was the picture of both of them. She had Darren's goofiness and Chris' determination and maturity.

Chris scooped the four year old into his arms and proceeded to carry her up the stairs while Darren attempted to put her markers away. Cerina Karyn Criss-Colfer, named for both their moms had been trying to practice her alphabet and getting increasingly frustrated because it seemed like such a simple concept.

The toddler began to pound on Chris' shoulders. "No daddy! No! I need to learn the alphabet before we perform the song at the end of the month!" she squealed. Her fierce determination was diminished by the yawn that followed her exclamation.

"See? I think you're tired princess," Chris replied. Cerina stopped fighting and instead slid her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

"I have an idea," Darren said as he joined them halfway up the stairs, Cerina's box of markers in his hands.

Chris looked back at him just as the little girl raised her head.

"What's that papa?" Cerina asked.

Darren felt his heart warm the way it did every time he heard the little girl call him papa. They didn't know whose daughter she was biologically. She could have been either. And her features were reminiscent as if she had somehow miraculously been created by two sperm instead one, one from each of them. She had Darren's curls but in Chris' hair color and she had Chris' eyes. But her mother had both curls and Chris' eyes. So they could have both come from the surrogate. Either way, they didn't care to think about that. The bottom line was that she was their little girl and that was all that mattered to them.

The older man let a soft smile grace his face as the three of them reached the top of the stairs.

"By all means Dare, enlighten us," Chris said with a soft chuckle. Darren pecked his husband on the cheek and Cerina giggled, wrinkling her nose adorably.

"That's not how you're supposed to kiss daddy papa," she squealed, shocking both her fathers. They glanced at each other.

"Oh?" Darren said as Chris expertly balanced her on his hip and opened the door to her room at the same time. "How am I supposed to kiss him than?"

"Darren," Chris warned, throwing him a look as he carried Cerina over to her bed. Thankfully, the little girl was already clad in pajamas after Darren had give her a bath after dinner. It was their routine. After dinner was bath time and every night, they took turns bathing her. Tonight was Darren's turn. Then Cerina could color or play quietly until her bedtime at eight-thirty.

"What?" Darren replied innocently. Chris just shook his head. "Go on Cerina, tell me how I'm supposed to kiss daddy," he said.

The little girl beamed as she allowed Chris to tuck her in. "On the lips," she said simply. Chris bust out laughing at the stunned look that crossed Darren's face.

"You wanted to know," Chris said, pointing out the obvious to Darren. Darren frowned at him. Chris cleared his throat. "Your idea Dare?" Chris prompted.

"Right," Darren said, recovering himself and approaching the bed to join his husband on the floor. Chris allowed Darren to wrap him in his embrace and comfortably relaxed into the older man's arms. Cerina snuggled down further into her bed and watched her papa curiously. "You need to know the alphabet by the end of the month, right?"

"Yes papa. So I can sing the song with the rest of my class," the little girl replied.

Darren nodded knowingly and tightened his grip on Chris who was leaning his head on his shoulder.

"Well, how about we do twenty-six nights of the adventures of Kurt and Blaine?" Darren said and Cerina furrowed her brow in confusion. Chris laughed, seeing the look on his daughter's face.

"What do you mean papa?" she asked.

"I think I understand," Chris said. "You like it best when papa and I make up stories about our characters from Glee." She nodded her head excitedly. "Well, papa is saying that we can give you one story a night for twenty-six nights. One for every letter of the alphabet."

Darren nodded his head. "With a story about the letter, it can creatively help you memorize the alphabet," he said.

Cerina's eyes lit up. "I have the best daddies in the world," she said. "Can we start tonight?"

Chris and Darren both laughed.

"Of course we can sweetie," Chris said. "Tonight we will start with the letter A. And since it was papa's idea, he can tell tonight's story."

Darren tapped his chin in thought for a moment. "I got it. Our first story will be a venture into science fiction with a little thing called Artificial Intelligence."

And thus began their journey into the alphabet.


	2. Artificial Intelligence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is story one. Darren's artificial intelligence story. There will be interludes with Chris, Darren, and Cerina in each chapter and probably just Chris and Darren in the more explicit chapters.
> 
> The B story will be told by Chris and it will be called BACHELOR. You'll see that tomorrow. Provided I write it tomorrow, haha.
> 
> For now, enjoy ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. Comments make me smile!

"And no one has seen hide nor hair of them since the scandal broke?" Sam Evans asked as he followed his partner Blaine Anderson into the company labs of Karythe Industries. The building was reportedly deserted, which was fine. It would allow them to carry out their investigation in peace.

"No,"Blaine replied, flicking on his flashlight and shining the beam down the long dark hallway they were standing in. "Once the scandal broke, Sebastian and David dropped everything and ran."

Sam frowned from his place behind Blaine, allowing his superior officer to lead the way. Right now, no one knew where Sebastian Smythe and David Karofsky had run off to, but that was beside the point. They could remain on the run for now, as long as the authorities didn't have substantial evidence of the claims.

"What is it they were reported as having done?" Sam asked and Blaine focused the beam of the flashlight on a set of double doors at the end of the hall, one of which was partially cracked open. If Sebastian and David were hiding something, it had to have been in there.

"Illegal robots," Blaine replied. "The rumors are that they were building bots without a license."

These days, artificial intelligence was as common in the world as two bedroom houses. People used technology for everything. Maids and butlers had been replaced with lifelike human androids. But they were all manufactured by licensed companies.

Sam frowned again. "I don't get it. It's not like there's something against building robots or anything. So why do it without a license?" he asked.

Blaine shrugged. Not at all having an answer for him. Sam was right of course. It wasn't something that they would be shunned for building. You just had to go through the legal process of obtaining a license to do so.

"Sebastian has a nasty reputation of having things his way," he finally said, eyes still on the doors in front of him. "He believes he's entitled to do whatever he wants and that the rules and law don't apply to him."

"And he's taking David along for the ride," Sam confirmed, prompting Blaine to nod his head.

"Exactly. David Karofsky was actually a good guy until he got mixed up with Smythe and Clarington," Blaine said.

Sam shuddered. Talk of Hunter Clarington always sent a shiver up his spine. The elusive millionaire benefactor was a frightening figure in society. Head the Clarington Corporation, the company responsible for the majority of the tech products people used in their homes today, Hunter had a vicious reputation. Some said he was a gold digger. Others knew him to be really manipulative. Just one cold hard stare from the man and you'd feel you were better off staring Medusa in the eyes.

The word on the streets was that Clarington was involved with several underground organizations. Illegal practices, embezzlement, and the like. But he was so very good at covering his tracks that there was no heat. And with no heat, there was no case. And with no case, Clarington remained a free man. Even the authorities were scared of him.

"What's Sebastian's connection to Clarington anyway?" Sam asked as they finally reached the double doors and Blaine lowered his flashlight.

"Old school friends apparently. If the rumors about Hunter's underground alliances are correct, I wouldn't doubt he was Sebastian's and David's proprietor of illegal parts. Sebastian would have paid him a fortune for it," Blaine explained.

As he went to open the doors so he and Sam could slip inside, Sam furrowed his brow in confusion.

"If they were old school friends, why would Sebastian need to pay him for his services?"

"You know as well as I do," Blaine grunted, heaving the door open wider. "That mongrel doesn't believe in freebies, not even for his close friends. And Sebastian is always willing to pay a friend." He turned around to face his partner and looked at him seriously for a moment, apparently about to say something else but deciding against it. "Coming?" he asked instead.

Sam nodded his head and the two of them passed through the double doors, Blaine shining his flashlight ahead of them.

They were met with a short hallway that ended in two doors. One was more of a doorway that opened into the main lab of the facility. The other was a heavy metal door with a sign on it that read:

TOP SECRET  
DO NOT ENTER

There was a keypad over the handle, indicating that entry was passcode protected.

Blaine pulled a second flashlight out of his belt and passed it back to Sam. "You go poke around the lab. Leave the top secret room to me," he said. Sam nodded his head and took the flashlight from him.

They both covered the distance of the short hall in a few strides before stopping at where they parted ways.

"Be careful Blaine," Sam said. Blaine nodded his head.

"You too Sam," he replied. Sam gave him one last fleeting look before turning and disappearing into the lab.

Blaine turned his attention to the metal door. He didn't have time to work out a passcode so there was only one thing he could do.

Pulling out his gun, Blaine stood back from the door and pointed the firearm at the keypad. Two shots rang out as he fired twice, successfully breaking both the door handle and the lock. It was no secret that Blaine was a good shot. He'd always been a natural with a gun.

Putting the weapon back into his belt, the curly haired man moved forward, preparing to throw all of his weight against the heavy metal door. But he was surprised to find it seemed to be lighter than air and it moved in easily with barely a touch from his shoulder. Blaine took a second to marvel at that. But only a second because his eyes caught on what was inside the room.

Standing in perfect posture in the center of the room was what appeared to be a tall pale man. His eyes were shut as though he was sleeping in that very position which appeared odd to Blaine. Who would want to sleep like that? A delicate coif of chestnut hair topped the man's head and he was essentially the perfect man. There was not a hair out of place, not a blemish on his body. He was too perfect. Kissable pink lips that got Blaine's blood pumping south and a delicate facial structure. A long slender prominent nose and an impeccable style of dress. He was exquisite in every way.

"Hello?" Blaine asked carefully as he stepped into the room. The man's eyes flew open as if on command and he turned his head toward the source of the voice. His hands remained down at his sides.

"You're not David." His voice, when he spoke was delicately high pitched and angelic, melodious to Blaine's ears.

"No, I should hope not," Blaine replied. The man's face remained blank, a hint of confusion lighting his eyes which Blaine now could see were a brilliant swirl of blue, green, and gray.

"Where's David?" he asked. Blaine carefully came further into the room and the man kept his eyes on him as he began to slowly circle him. Why would anyone leave a man this beautiful just delicately standing up asleep in the center of a pass locked room?

Blaine swallowed, feeling the heat of the man's gaze. "I don't know . What is your name?"

The man blinked at him. "K-U-R-T," he said, pronouncing letters as though to mean an abbreviation.

"K-U-R-T?" Blaine repeated and the man gave the shortest of nods, just barely there. "Kurt?" Blaine questioned and when he saw the confusion on the man's face, he elaborated. "Those letters spell 'Kurt'," he told him.

The man shook his head. "K-U-R-T," he said again. "Karythe Unit of Robotic Technology." Blaine blinked. This man was a robot? How could that be? He looked impeccably realistic. There was nothing to indicate that he was an android.

But as Blaine came round to his backside, that was when he saw it. The small panel in the back of the android's neck. That must have been where his programming chip was.

"Where's David?" the android repeated.

Blaine looked at him for a moment. "I don't know," he said softly.

"Is he coming back?" And Blaine wondered if the hopeful tone he thought he heard in the android's voice was a figment of his imagination.

He shook his head. "I don't think so. Can I call you Kurt?" he asked then.

The android looked at him for a long moment before he gave his head the barest of nods. "You may. If that is your wish. Might I ask your name?"

Blaine could hardly believe that he was here having a conversation with an android who didn't seem to be at all bothered by the fact that David Karofsky might not be coming back. The curly haired man wondered if the android had been treated poorly by David.

"My name's Blaine," he said softly.

"Nice to meet you Blaine," Kurt replied. "Are you here to rescue me?" he asked next and Blaine felt his heart ache.

"Rescue you?" Kurt nodded. "Didn't they build you?" Kurt shook his head then. "But you basically said you were a product of theirs."

"David enhanced me. I was already a frame when they got me," he replied.

A frame. So they hadn't built him from scratch. He was a standard metal model android when he had come to them. The kind with no humanoid features whatsoever. A lot of work had gone into him obviously.

"Kurt, do you know where you came from?" Blaine asked him.

The android nodded his head slowly. "The Clarington Corporation," he replied simply.

Well, that was one step in gathering evidence to pin Clarington for illegal underground trading or whatever you wanted to call it.

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"It's branded on my skeleton," Kurt replied immediately. He reached up a finger to the back of his head. "Right here." Of course. He had the Clarington model stamp on his head cavity.

Blaine walked over to him, close enough to examine the fine detail. To his credit, Kurt did not startle. He did not seem afraid by Blaine's close proximity. As a matter of fact, it was quite the contrary. He seemed a little bashful and a light blush bloomed on his pale cheeks and that was fascinating to Blaine.

"What?" Kurt asked as he watched Blaine's hazel eyes go round like saucers.

"I've never met an android who could blush," he replied. Kurt blushed again and tore his eyes from Blaine.

"David said I am more real and advanced then any other lifelike android," he told him quietly.

Blaine swallowed. "Kurt," he said, prompting Kurt to look at him again. "Do you want David to come back?"

And then Kurt did something else Blaine had never seen an android do. His whole body went rigid as though tense with fear and Blaine could see the fright in his eyes and he knew. He knew Kurt never wanted to see that man again.

"No," he whispered in reply. "I don't want him to ever come back. And if he does, I want to be gone."

Blaine licked his lips. "Why don't you just leave?" he asked carefully.

Kurt locked his eyes on Blaine's hazel ones for a long moment. "I have nowhere else to go," he said, still in those whispery words.

Their gaze held in the silence for what seemed like hours but was probably only a few minutes and then, Blaine didn't know why he did it, but he did, the curly haired man leaned forward and softly sealed his lips to the android's.

A small gasp left the machine's - no Blaine refused to think of him as such - man's mouth as he reacted, pressing back with a kind of feeling that no android should ever have and in that moment, Blaine realized what made Kurt so different from every other android out there. He had somehow been programmed to show emotion. He felt emotions just like a real human would.

There was one thing that David would have to be interrogated on when they caught him and Sebastian. Where he had gotten his impeccable robot building and programming skills. The man looked like a brainless oaf. And yet, he had made several breakthroughs in modern technology.

Blaine broke the kiss and rested his forehead to Kurt's. It didn't feel like metal covered in a skin-like outer fabric. It felt like real human skin. The hardness beneath was as much like a human skull as it possibly could be. That meant David had made changes to the frame too. He didn't just take the frame and add to it.

"That's what a real kiss should feel like," Kurt said. What caught Blaine's attention was that it was spoken as a statement, as if Kurt had already kissed someone before.

"What do you mean Kurt?" Blaine asked.

The android tensed again and Blaine gently took his hands in his and they felt so soft and warm to the touch. It was getting harder and harder for Blaine to remember Kurt was an android, not a real human.

"He kissed me," he said simply.

"Who? David?" Blaine asked gently. Kurt nodded and Blaine felt his blood run cold with anger.

"He said…he said I was to be his perfect man," Kurt told him. The urge to vomit crept up on Blaine and he held his breath for a long moment, attempting to squash it back down. "That's-that's why he wanted to build me. For his own pleasure."

Blaine's eyes widened again. "He made you to be an adult services droid?!" he growled out.

Adult services droids were androids built specifically to provide sexual services to the owner. Blaine couldn't bring himself to understand why anyone would want an android to provide them with sexual pleasure but now that he was looking at Kurt and had kissed him, he couldn't stop the thoughts of doing such things with him from surfacing.

But he shoved those away. Blaine's desires were nothing like David's greedy ones. He also realized that Kurt had exposed David as being a homosexual. Blaine was a bit surprised because he never would have guessed. He could use that to his advantage.

Standing straight, he released one of Kurt's hands.

"Come on Kurt," he said, beginning to lead the android out of the room.

"Where are we going?" Kurt asked curiously, allowing Blaine to pull him along behind him.

"I'm taking you home," he replied, looking over his shoulder with a smile.

"With you?" Kurt asked and there was no disguising the hope in his voice.

"With me," Blaine confirmed and a beautiful closed mouth smile bloomed across Kurt's face. Blaine wanted to always keep that smile there for all his days to come because yes, it may seem silly but he was falling in love with an android and there was nothing that would stop it.

He pulled Kurt out of the room and into the short hall, glancing into the lab as Kurt marveled at his new surroundings. He had never been outside that room before so the whole world would be a new adventure and he was ready for it.

"Sam!" Blaine called out, watching as the familiar blonde appeared moments later.

"Something—" he cut off as he saw Kurt and gaped at him. Kurt fidgeted uncomfortably. "Dude…" Sam said, not able to say anything else.

"This is Kurt Sam," Blaine said. Kurt offered a weak smile. "Kurt, this is my partner Sam. My work partner."

Sam looked between them for a moment. "He was in there?" he asked pointing to the room.

Blaine nodded. "He's the next evolution in lifelike androids and I'm taking him home with me."

Sam seemed stunned. "What about Smythe and Karofsky?" he asked.

A slow smile crossed Blaine's face. "We'll catch them and when we do, we'll have more than enough evidence for conviction. Not to mention a link to Clarington as well. For now though, let's get the heck out of here," he said. Sam nodded.

The three of them proceeded to make their way out of the facility, Blaine never once letting go of Kurt's hand. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship, one that would only blossom and grow with passing time. But for that moment, they remained oblivious to their future together, always knowing they had taken one tiny step in the right direction already.

The world was a revolutionary place and Blaine and Kurt would pave the road for the future of relationships between humans and androids. And it all started with that one little kiss.

* * *

"Papa don't stop there!" Cerina said, punctuating the statement with yawns as her eyelids drooped nearly closed. Darren laughed wholeheartedly.

"And why not sleepyhead?" he asked as Chris smiled at the little girl.

Cerina yawned again. "You need to go into their happy relationship story and talk about their first time being intimate and—" She was cut off by Chris covering her mouth with his hand, a furious blush coloring his pale cheeks. He threw a glare at Darren who looked at him sheepishly.

"Don't look at me. I'm not the one who doesn't have a filter around her," Darren protested, throwing his hands up in surrender.

Chris gritted his teeth. "Remind me to kill Mark next time we see him," he said. Cerina giggled and Darren nodded his head. "Anyway, time for you to sleep princess," Chris went on. He helped Cerina snuggle back down under her blankets.

"B story tomorrow daddy?" she asked as Chris and Darren took turns kissing their daughter on the forehead.

"Yes princess," Chris said. "B story tomorrow."

"Your turn than?" Cerina asked next, yawning yet again.

"Yes princess," Chris said again, smiling at her. "Sweet dreams honey. I love you."

Cerina yawned yet again as her eyes began to blink closed. "Love you too daddy. I love you papa."

"I love you too CK," Darren replied, using one of their nicknames for her, a soft smile on his face.

Chris and Darren watched as their little girl drifted off to sleep before Chris turned to his husband.

"I wanna watch A.I. Artificial Intelligence now," he said as they walked out of the room, Darren turning on the nightlight and shutting the door behind them. He laughed lightly.

"Well than my loving android, let's go get comfortable in bed and watch it." Chris swatted him playfully. Darren just laughed.

"You are such a dork," Chris replied with a shake of his head.

"I know but you love it."

"I do. Come on, let's go get comfortable." Chris pecked him softly on the lips before grabbing his hand and pulling him off down the hall to their bedroom.


	3. Bachelor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this wasn't sooner! It took me half a day to write and then I was made to put down my phone and watch Starship Troopers. Anyway, this chapter came out a hell of a lot longer than I initially thought it would but I had to let it play out naturally.
> 
> Next chapter will be called CANDY MAN. For now, enjoy BACHELOR. Comments make me smile!

Cerina giggled as Darren tucked her into bed the next night and Chris settled himself on the floor. She was freshly bathed of course and unfortunately, so was Chris. Cerina had the tendency to splash a lot whenever he was giving her a bath. He'd asked Darren from time to time how he had managed to always come out dry. Chris was still a bit wet after an hour or so of drying off.

"So tonight we get the B story?" Cerina asked excitedly and Chris smiled at her, reaching out to take her hand in his.

"Yes, tonight we get the B story," he said. "But first, what have you learned so far?" he asked.

The little girl grinned. "A stands for artificial intelligence," she said proudly.

"Our little girl is so smart," Darren said, reaching a hand out to ruffle her curls and causing her to giggle.

"Papa don't!" she scolded. Darren laughed as she reached up a hand and attempted to flatten her ruffled curls.

Chris settled in against Darren again and smiled at the two of them. This was his little family and he couldn't be happier. He had the sweetest little girl, even if she did tend to splash his clothes soaked during bath time. And he had the most wonderful husband he could ever ask for.

"Okay, so are you ready for the B story now?" Chris asked.

"Yes daddy!" Cerina squealed excitedly. Chris laughed.

"All right. So this story is called Bachelor…"

* * *

Kurt was pacing the apartment with an irritated look on his face. Rachel sat on the couch looking sheepish. She'd done it again. Gotten Kurt into something without asking him first.

"Are you nuts?" Kurt finally asked her, spinning on his heel and looking his best friend in the eyes. Rachel managed a weak smile.

"Come on Kurt. You need to get out there and do something about your loveless life," she pleaded with him.

Kurt narrowed his eyes at her before turning to glare at Rachel's laptop which was sitting on the coffee table. The page on the browser was open to a confirmation notice. He could not believe she'd submitted an application for him. She'd submitted an application for him to be on The Bachelor.

It was true that ever since gay marriage had started to become equal in more and more states, the popular reality show had decided to run seasons in which the bachelor or bachelorette was gay, just to see how the public responded.

The announcement that they were accepting applications for their first homosexual season of The Bachelor had been very recent and Rachel, without consulting Kurt had jumped at the chance to sign her best friend up for the show.

"I don't see why you're so angry," she said and Kurt opened his mouth to retort but she hurried on before he could. "The odds that you will be selected as a contestant are extreme. You may not even get picked."

If there was ever a wrong thing to say about this situation that was it. Kurt growled. "Thanks Rachel. It's nice to know you have such faith in my ability to get on television."

Rachel bit her lip and frowned. "They'll probably have at least hundreds of applications Kurt. There's really no harm in me entering you. Stuff like that doesn't happen to people like us."

Kurt was silent for a moment. Rachel had a slight point. Though saying that was kind of strange for her. This was coming from the girl who landed a leading role in a Broadway revival before she had even finished her freshman year of NYADA. That was practically unheard of.

The pale man sighed. What was done was done and there was nothing he could do about it. His fate was in the hands of the producers of the show. He just had to hope that maybe they wouldn't find him interesting enough.

So imagine his surprise when merely two days later, he got a call from the show's producers inviting him to come to Los Angeles for an interview. Kurt told them he would call them right back but he had to take a moment to think about it.

"What was that about?" Rachel asked when Kurt came into the kitchen area where she was eating a salad, cell phone in hand and eyes wide as saucers.

"This is your fault," he said. Rachel raised an eyebrow. Their third roommate, Santana, who was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee looked up in interest.

"What did you you do man hands?" she asked Rachel.

Rachel looked offended and opened her mouth to retaliate when Kurt answered for her because she obviously didn't know what any of this was about.

"She submitted an application for me for The Bachelor and they just called asking to set up an interview. In LA!" he spit out.

That got Rachel's attention. "Oh Kurt you have to go! They want to put you on the show! I know it!"

Kurt gave her an incredulous look and it was Santana who picked up the conversation.

"Slow down man hands. Just because Lady Hummel landed an interview doesn't mean they'll put him on the show. It just means they want to know more about him and think of him as a potential contestant." Rachel gave her a look as if to say, 'stop making a negative mountain out of a positive mole hill.'

She turned to look at Kurt. "You have to accept the interview," she said simply.

Kurt let out a sigh and stared at his cell phone. "Fine. But this is still all your fault Rachel." He turned and walked out of the room, intending to call the producer back.

And that was how he found himself on a plane, headed for the west coast for the first time in his life the next day.

To say Kurt was in awe of LA and Hollywood was an understatement. New York was amazing but Los Angeles was something else entirely. He'd never had a reason to wear sunglasses all day as the sun beat down on the city, warming the temperature to comfortable levels, perhaps a little too comfortable for his liking.

A car had been sent to pick him up and take him to the casting call where they were interviewing selected applicants and Kurt felt his throat close up at the possibility of being on the show. Falling in love on national television was not the way he would have chosen to find the love of his life. And who was to say he would even be attracted to the bachelor? Or worse, what if he was chosen as the bachelor?

That got another cog of thoughts wheeling in his head. How did they decide who would be the bachelor and who would be a contestant? That was a simpler process when it was girls vying for a guy or guys vying for a girl. But this was guys vying for a guy. So how did they know which one would be their bachelor and which would be contestants?

Kurt didn't have much more time to consider it fore the car arrived at the casting call and as the driver let him out, he felt his nerves bubble up.

Sure, he hadn't gone into this of his own free will but it didn't stop him from thinking negative thoughts about the outcome. He swallowed hard and entered the building, walking up to reception.

"Hi there!" said the lady behind the desk. "How may I help you today?"

"Um," Kurt replied, trying to find his voice. "My name is Kurt Hummel. I'm here for a casting call interview for The Bachelor," he told her, glad it didn't come out as a question.

She smiled up at him. "Oh yes. Go down that hall and enter the set of double doors on your left. Wait there." She pointed to the hall to her right.

"Thank you," Kurt said politely. She nodded and he turned and followed her instructions.

When he entered the double doors, he found himself in a waiting room with a couple dozen other men. They all looked up at him when he entered and Kurt felt incredibly exposed. He swallowed uncomfortably, feeling several sets of eyes looking him up and down. He didn't exactly appreciate the leering.

Kurt moved to take a seat next to an older guy with quite the head of hair. The man smiled at him and held his hand out.

"Hey, I'm Jeremiah," he introduced.

Kurt took his hand a bit hesitantly. "Kurt," he replied, giving the man's hand a shake.

"They'll pick you the moment they see you," Jeremiah said, causing a blush to bloom on Kurt's pale face, crawling up to his ears. "You're the kind of beautiful they would want to show on television."

The young man wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment or a sign of jealousy. But Jeremiah sounded nothing short of polite. He didn't strike Kurt as the kind of guy who would be jealous or let someone down in a bad way.

There was a scoff from a guy in a seat across from them and they both turned to look at him.

"Oh please," the guy said. "He has a gay face and looks like a gay Betty White." Kurt glared at the guy.

"Well you should talk meerkat face. You're the one with horse teeth and obnoxious CW hair," he replied. Jeremiah let out a laugh and clapped his hand to his mouth. The meerkat guy narrowed his eyes.

"You have guts gay face and that is a bad thing when you're talking to me," he replied.

"Who are you anyway?" Kurt spit out, folding his arms across his chest and looking slightly bored with the situation.

The guy smirked. "Sebastian Smythe and I'm going to win this."

Jeremiah bit back another laugh.

"What makes you so sure of that?" a new guy piped up from his spot behind Sebastian.

Sebastian looked around at the room. "Oh please. Have you seen the guy? Sex on a stick, my perfect other half."

Kurt's eyes went wide. "Wait, they already have the bachelor?" he asked. It was the new guy that responded as he looked over at Kurt.

"Yeah. Didn't you see it in the application?" Kurt shook his head.

"No," he said. "I didn't fill out the application. My friend Rachel did it for me behind my back and didn't tell me until she'd already submitted it," he admitted.

"Ouch," the guy replied. "Well, his name is Blaine Anderson and he's absolutely gorgeous. I'm Eli by the way."

Kurt bit his lip. Just because these guys thought this Blaine was gorgeous didn't mean he would. But he supposed he would find that out either when he got on the show or watched the premiere on TV. And he would most certainly be watching it after this.

"Kurt Hummel?" came a new voice and Kurt looked up to see a man in a suit standing in the doorway. He stood up and grabbed his bag to go follow the man.

"Best of luck Kurt," Jeremiah encouraged. Kurt nodded his head. He didn't miss the eye roll that Sebastian gave and he really really didn't like the meerkat. He found himself suddenly driven to do everything in his power to make sure Sebastian didn't win this thing. Though if he didn't get selected as a contestant and Sebastian did, that was going to be easier said than done.

Kurt felt the nerves climb back up his spine as he followed the man out of the room and down the hall to another room in which sat a panel of four other people behind a table.

"Hello Kurt," said the man at the head of the table. "We just want to ask you a few questions for confirmation," he explained. Kurt bit his lip. If Rachel made him look like a fool he was going to kill her.

"Do you mind if I say something first?" he asked, deciding it was probably a smart idea to come clean about this before they started in case things didn't add up.

"Of course," the man replied kindly.

"I didn't submit the application myself. My friend Rachel did it and didn't tell me until afterward. I wouldn't put it past her to have exaggerated. She's kind of a bit much," he admitted.

To his surprise, the panel chuckled.

"If I had a nickel for every potential contestant whose been in your shoes Kurt," one of them said in a light tone. "You're not the first person. You'd be surprised how many potential contestants didn't submit the application themselves."

The first man nodded. "That's why we like to confirm things with you first. We pretty much have a set idea of who we will be putting on the show. This interview is to make the last few cuts," he explained.

Kurt gave his head a short nod. "Oh, okay," he said, feeling slightly more at ease.

The man looked down at the application in front of him. "It says here that you're a student at NYADA in New York City." Kurt nodded his head and the man smiled. "So I'm guessing you like music and musical theater."

"Yes. I do. I was in my high school glee club too."

The man smiled at him. "And you're from Lima, Ohio?"

"Ugh, don't remind me. That small town is so close minded, I swear," Kurt replied. They laughed. "I was the only out kid at my high school."

They frowned a bit. "That had to be rough," the head said.

Kurt nodded his head. "It was. I was bullied a lot in my sophomore and junior years. The bullying decreased significantly when my head tormentor transferred schools for senior year."

"It sounds like you're a very strong person Kurt," the head guy said. Kurt realized he didn't know the man's name but he figured that wasn't all that important.

"I like to think I am. I never once considered offing myself no matter how bad it got. I had plans. I got out. I went to New York. I got a job as an intern at Vogue. I got into NYADA. I made it. That's all that matters. And I always had a loving family and supportive friends," he explained.

"Well that's good to know. Now, your friend Rachel said you have a tattoo and a tongue piercing?"

Kurt blushed. "Um yeah. There's a tattoo on the back of my right shoulder. It's small but it's there. It was supposed to say, 'It gets better' but there was a mix up and I had to get it fixed so it says, 'Its got Bette Midler' instead. And yes, I have this." He stuck out his tongue to reveal the little silver ball nestled in the piercing. The panel laughed.

"I like you Kurt. You're bold and we could use someone like that," the head man said. Kurt was almost certain that meant he would end up on the show but he didn't want to think it was that simple.

"You also have a lot in common with our bachelor," another of them said. That took Kurt by surprise. That would probably be a good thing in the long run.

Kurt offered them one of his trademark closed mouth smiles. "Well, I'm glad to hear that."

The head smiled back at him. "I think we have what we need but we're going to ask you to remain in LA until further notice. You'll probably get a call tonight concerning our decision and we'll go from there," he told him, still smiling. Kurt gave a nod of his head. "If you head back out, the car that brought you here will take you to a hotel where we have already reserved rooms for you all. You're welcome to indulge in the amenities of the hotel. It's on us."

Kurt was surprised by all this but it was a really nice gesture. He smiled warmly again. "Thank you very much," he said before shouldering the bag he had with him and heading out of the room with a wave of good-bye.

The hotel turned out to be the Hyatt and Kurt was a little overwhelmed. The room was amazing and comfortable and room service was excellent too. He did take the time to indulge, helping himself to the champagne that he found in his room. Apparently the producers had ordered it for all their potential contestants. It was a nice gesture really.

Kurt was not exactly interested in seeing any of the other potential applicants again so he decided just to stay in his room. God forbid he come across the meerkat again. He knew he was potentially his competition.

He nibbled on a strawberry thinking over things. Stuff like strategies and how he could outwit Sebastian if he ended up his competition. He wasn't too worried about Eli and Jeremiah. They didn't seem like they would be much in the way of competition. But Sebastian was a different story.

The meerkat struck Kurt as someone who would stop at nothing to make sure he got what he wanted and that was a red flag in Kurt's mind. He couldn't let this Blaine guy get exposed to that. Especially since now he had a bit of an idea of what Blaine might be like.

Kurt was struck by the sudden thought that even though he had initially wanted nothing to do with this, he was beginning to find that he was really getting into it and he hadn't even been picked to be a contestant yet. Competitive nature was definitely in his blood. But so was playing fair. So he would defeat Sebastian but he would do it fairly.

He was startled out of his thoughts when his phone rang. And it was only then that he realized how much time had passed since the casting call interview.

His nerves hiked suddenly and he reached out a shaky hand to pick up his phone. Recognizing the number as that of the producers, he shakily accepted the call and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" he asked with bated breath.

"Kurt Hummel?" It was the same man who had sat at the head of the table. Kurt recognized his voice.

"Speaking," he replied.

"How are you this evening?" the man asked. Kurt huffed a laugh, trying to relax a little. Such niceties.

"I was fine until you called," he admitted, immediately regretting it.

To his surprise, the man laughed. "Nervous?" he asked. Kurt nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see him but the man seemed to take his silence as answer enough. "Well, how about I put your nerves at ease than?" he asked.

"That would be great," Kurt replied, biting his lip. This was it. This was the moment that he had been anticipating all afternoon.

"Kurt, we took a vote and it was unanimous." Kurt's eyes went wide as saucers. All the producers had been in agreement with whatever they had decided? That was kind of flattering and scary at the same time. "We would love to have you as a contestant on the show. We think you and Blaine will have a great connection." Kurt could practically hear the wink in the man's voice.

"Oh. Thank you," he managed to reply, despite being stunned.

"We need you to be here tomorrow morning at ten. We will be going over things with you."

"I'll be there," Kurt told him. They exchanged good-byes and hung up the phone. Kurt found himself so overwhelmed, he had trouble falling asleep that night.

He had been picked. He was going to be on The Bachelor. And if Sebastian had been picked too, he was going to squash him like a bug.

Everything after that seemed to fly by in a whirlwind and before Kurt knew it, he was in a limo on his way to the mansion where the show would take place. They were filming. It was the arrival episode and Kurt was about to meet this Blaine for the first time.

Everyone else had an advantage over him, in that they had at the very least, seen what Blaine looked like. That must have been one of the reasons they had all applied in the first place.

Kurt had no idea who else had been chosen. His own proceedings had been kept separate from theirs. This was done deliberately to avoid pre-competition rivalries and - in the case of this season - contestants forming romantic relationships with each other when they were meant to try and win the heart of the bachelor.

Kurt's eyes widened in awe as the mansion came into view. His limo was last in the procession and even from the distance he could see a figure standing on the lawn with a red rose in his hand. There were fifteen more on the podium beside him. One rose for each of them.

As they drew closer, Kurt found himself eyeing the competition as each of the fifteen men ahead of him stepped out of their limo. Most of them left little to no impression on him but Kurt recognized the man called Eli and Jeremiah too. And then there were just two arrivals left. Him, and the one before him.

The fifteenth limo pulled to a stop in front of the figure who Kurt could only assume was Blaine and from what he could see from his limo window, he was quite the dapper gentleman. Dark gelled down hair, olive skin, and triangular eyebrows. He looked dashing in his suit. The other fourteen contestants stood behind him in a line.

And then the door opened to the last limo in front of Kurt's and to his great chagrin, Sebastian stepped out of it. Even from his own limo, Kurt could see the smirk on the meerkat's face as he accepted the rose Blaine offered him in greeting. But a small bubble of satisfaction bloomed in Kurt's stomach when Blaine rejected Sebastian's attempt to kiss him hello. Sebastian did not look pleased. Apparently no one denied a kiss from him.

Kurt's limo was moving again, pulling up to take the spot of Sebastian's limo as it drove away. He tried to keep his hands from sweating as they came to a final stop. Kurt eyed his reflection in the rearview mirror, checking that his coif was still perfect and the tie on his suit was straight.

The driver came around then and opened the door for Kurt, offering a hand to help him out of the car. Kurt gave him a nod of thanks before he turned to face Blaine for the first time and the moment their eyes met, it was like a spark was lit within Kurt's very being. He watched Blaine's own eyes widen in awe as he looked back at Kurt.

"Hello gorgeous," Blaine said shakily. He tried to hide the obvious swallow over a lump in his throat. "This is for you," he added holding out the last of the sixteen long stemmed roses for him.

Kurt took it delicately. "Thank you," he said softly and held out his hand in greeting. "I'm Kurt."

Blaine smiled at him. "Pleasure to meet you Kurt," he said, taking his hand and pressing a light kiss to the back of it. "I'm Blaine." And there was no doubt in his mind, Kurt was already in love. How could he not be? This man was gorgeous, incredibly sweet and endearing and obviously a romantic. He flushed lightly feeling Blaine's lips on the back of his hand.

"The pleasure's all mine," he replied, withdrawing his hand, bringing the rose to his nose to smell, and moving to take his place at the end of the line unfortunately next to Sebastian who had a deep scowl on his face.

Once Kurt had taken his place, Blaine turned to face them. "Hello gentlemen," he addressed them. "My name is Blaine Anderson and I am your bachelor." Kurt heard a few actual giggles and he wondered if there were guys here who were more flamboyant than he was. "Now before you all start competing to win my affections, I have a few rules. I would prefer not to kiss anyone until I get to know you well. I'm a romantic and I'm not the kind of person to throw myself into a fling. So if you attempt anything like that, it's a sure way to make sure you are the one not receiving a rose at the ceremony."

There were a few grumbles and Kurt heard Sebastian mumbling under his breath. But he was fine with it. As much as he really wanted to kiss Blaine, to know what it would be like, he was the same way. He'd rather get to know him first. Kurt wasn't much for kissing on the first date anyway.

"Without further ado, welcome and let the games begin," Blaine said than. And it was on. Kurt found himself giving Sebastian a long hard look as the man whispered that he was going down and he wouldn't last one week in the game.

As it were, Sebastian was completely wrong though he was holding his own. Somehow he miraculously was staying in the game each week regardless of his obvious advances on Blaine. He had the poor guy completely oblivious to his attacks it seemed.

Meanwhile, the more Kurt got to know Blaine, the more he found himself falling for him. And it seemed that Blaine might be feeling the same way. Either that or he was just polite and sweet. And well, he was everything Kurt wanted in a guy. Their multiple times alone gave Kurt ample access to stare into Blaine's gorgeous honey-hazel eyes. He could get lost in them. He knew he probably looked like a lovesick goon. But he didn't care.

One by one the possible suitors were eliminated. One person left without a rose each week and Kurt's bouquet continued to grow. He was always one of the first Blaine gifted with the rose, a fact that continued to anger Sebastian.

Before he knew it, there were only four of them left. Kurt, Sebastian, Jeremiah, and Eli, ironically. The last two rose ceremonies were the most crucial and Kurt found his nerves hiking as he stood at the end of the top four week. All of them wanted to move on. And Kurt needed to defeat Sebastian.

Blaine stood there with one rose in his hand and two lying on the podium. He twirled the long stem and looked at the four of them.

"I have had the pleasure of getting to know the four of you on personal levels," he started. "I hate to let go of any of you because I like you all so much," he went on. "But the person I have chosen to let go this week is someone who I don't feel I can see myself in a real relationship with." The four of them looked at each other and Kurt held his breath.

"I would like to gift this first rose to someone who I have been getting along well with and is very sweet and nice and I need that," Blaine went on. He looked from one to the other. "Jeremiah," he said next.

Jeremiah let out a relieved sigh as he stepped forward to take his rose, leaning in to kiss Blaine on the cheek. He proceeded to continue into the house. And then, there were three.

Blaine picked up one of the two remaining roses and looked at them again. "The second rose goes to someone who continues to surprise me at every corner and I haven't really figured him out quite yet so I need more time," he said. "Sebastian." Kurt felt himself tense up and Sebastian stepped forward smugly to take the rose Blaine held out for him.

Kurt and Eli glanced at each other, aware that one of the two of them would have their heart broken that night. Kurt's nerves were higher because he had always been one of the first to receive a rose and now there was one left and he was still standing there awaiting his fate.

"The final rose," Blaine went on, picking up the last red bloom, "And I saved the best for last, goes to someone who I've felt a connection with from day one, from the moment I laid eyes on him. There was just this spark."

Blaine's eyes hovered between the two of them and Kurt felt fear clench in his gut as he watched the honey-hazel orbs come to rest on Eli. This was it. He was going home. Blaine couldn't see them in a relationship.

"Kurt." Kurt felt tears well in his eyes as the name rolled out and he turned to congratulate Eli when it dawned on him what Blaine had just said.

"Wait, what?" Kurt replied, stunned. Blaine graced him with an easy smile.

"This is for you Kurt," he said softly, holding out the long stemmed flower. And Kurt felt tears in his eyes again as Eli patted him on the back. He moved forward to accept the rose and pulled Blaine into a tight hug.

"Thank you," he whispered, pressing a chaste kiss to the man's cheek. He pulled away, glancing over at Eli, who was out before turning and heading into the house as Blaine turned to give Eli his good-byes.

Sebastian was not pleased that Kurt could potentially be his final competition and he made that perfectly clear over the week leading to the rose ceremony for the final two. He was even ruder to Kurt than he had been to begin with. And Jeremiah told Kurt that he had caught Sebastian trying to sway Blaine's decision of the final two by increasingly insulting Kurt. Blaine was less than pleased.

When that inevitable day arrived, Kurt felt the tension in his body ten-fold. It took all his willpower not to punch that meerkat in the face. Jeremiah conveniently stood between the two of them so they wouldn't jump down each other's throats.

Blaine approached, looking as dashing as ever in his suit and picked up one of the long stemmed roses. He twirled it between his fingers as he peered at the three of them.

"I want to start by saying, my decision on who will stay and who will go has never been easier," he started, stunning the three of them and likely the audience at home when they watched it. "And that is sad, considering this is the most crucial ceremony yet," he went on. "But one of you made it very clear who I should cut."

Out of the corner of his eye, Kurt could see Sebastian standing with a satisfied smirk on the other side of Jeremiah. He didn't doubt that the meerkat had swayed the decision but he hoped beyond hope that it wasn't in his favor.

"The person I am letting go," Blaine continued, "Is certainly not the person I thought they were and I see that clearly now. I want to apologize on behalf of the person who was belittled because of someone else's actions and I have never been so appalled before." Kurt could detect the heat in his words. He could tell Blaine was sufficiently upset and he wasn't sure he wanted to know why.

"Someone lied to me," he said simply. "So with that said, I am awarding the first rose to the one person here who was not a factor in this mess." He twirled the rose in between his fingers. "Jeremiah," he said and Kurt wasn't surprised.

Jeremiah walked forward and took the rose Blaine was offering him. Kurt saw him whisper something to Blaine to which Blaine mouthed back what looked like, 'don't worry'. He kept his distance from Sebastian, refusing to close the gap between them and Sebastian didn't seem keen to do it either.

"The remaining rose," Blaine spoke again after Jeremiah had disappeared into the house, "Will go to the person I feel has been belittled and attacked and now that I look back on it, probably has been over the entire competition." He paused and looked between them. Sebastian still looked smug like he was confident it was him. "I am sickened by how poorly one of you has been treating this individual. And it makes me wonder if our entire relationship so far has been a lie. To the person I am letting go, I will never give you the time of day."

Blaine's words were the strongest and angriest Kurt had ever heard come from him. He only hoped that it wasn't him he was talking about. That Sebastian hadn't achieved his goal and shined a false light on Kurt that made him completely not the person he actually was.

The silence seemed to stretch forever before Blaine finally spoke the name of the person he was awarding the final rose to.

"Kurt," he said, his eyes moving to look at Kurt and it took all the pale man's willpower to keep his knees form buckling beneath him as tears filled his eyes again.

Behind him, Sebastian was screaming with rage, letting off a string of expletives. Kurt moved forward to take the rose and Blaine engulfed him in a warm embrace.

"I'm so sorry Kurt. I feel horrible I didn't see him attacking you until now," he whispered to him, hugging him closer.

"It's okay Blaine," Kurt said tearfully. "I know there's still a week left, but I feel like I should tell you, I fell in love with you the moment our eyes met for the first time." Blaine smiled lovingly at him and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead. Kurt longed for that first kiss but now was not the time.

He allowed himself a tearful laugh as he moved out of Blaine's arms and moved to head into the house.

The last week was the most crucial. Blaine was meant to go meet both his final two's families and it was obvious that Jeremiah was a little uncomfortable. Oddly, Blaine had ended up with the four guys whose families were all in Ohio like his. Kurt wasn't sure if he had done that on purpose or not.

Since Jeremiah had been given the first rose, his family was first and Kurt could see he was positively sweating bullets.

"What's the matter?" Kurt asked him as he and Blaine were preparing to go visit his family for the evening. The three of them had gone to Ohio together seeing as both families were there. Rachel had flown home for the occasion.

Jeremiah drew a breath. "My parents aren't exactly comfortable with my sexuality. It's why I haven't told anyone around here that I'm gay." Kurt stared at him in surprise.

"And you applied for a show that would announce that to the entire country?" he said, not at all seeing how that made sense.

"It was spontaneous. I didn't think I'd actually get picked," he admitted, throwing his arms out wide.

Kurt looked out to the car that was to take Jeremiah and Blaine to Jeremiah's family's house. "Have you told Blaine any of this?" he asked resolutely. Jeremiah's shameful expression was enough to tell Kurt that no, he hadn't. "Jeremiah, this could be a deal breaker for you."

Jeremiah sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know. And I really don't care. Blaine's nice and all but I don't feel a romantic connection with him and he's a little young for me."

Kurt just stared at him for several moments. "Jeremiah, you're leading him on. What's going to happen if he picks you and you have to break his heart?" he asked.

Jeremiah remained quiet. He didn't have an answer for him. Before he could come up with one, Blaine was calling him to get in the car.

"You have to come clean to him," Kurt told him. "It'll hurt him less that way."

Kurt watched Jeremiah go with a solemn look on his face. As much as he liked the guy, he was angry at him for stringing Blaine along. Here he was in the final two and he didn't even deserve to be there because he didn't feel Blaine was relationship material for him. On the other hand, if the whole not being out to people around him thing was such an issue, he never should have applied in the first place.

Kurt found himself spending the rest of the evening brooding and hoping that when Blaine's heart got broken, he would be able to pick up the pieces.

As fate would have it though, when Kurt saw Blaine at breakfast the next morning, he appeared not to have slept at all the night before. His eyes were red rimmed, both from lack of sleep and from crying. His hair was disheveled. His hands were trembling. Jeremiah wasn't awake yet.

"Hey," Kurt said, sitting down beside him and softly putting a hand on his shoulder. Blaine looked at him. "Are you all right honey?" He knew it was a stupid question because Blaine's appearance proved that no, he wasn't all right but Kurt would rather not assume.

"No," Blaine said in a small voice. "Last night was horrible. His family was so crude, to both of us." Blaine wrapped his arms around himself. "And Jeremiah, he just sat there and let them dish it. He didn't stand up for me or even himself."

Kurt could not believe what he was hearing. "I'm so sorry Blaine," he said gently, pulling the distraught man into his arms. Blaine clung to him and buried his face in Kurt's shoulder. Kurt could feel the anger he had for Jeremiah growing and when the man entered the room, he gave him such a hard glare that he immediately retreated. Kurt held Blaine tighter.

"Your family's not like that, right?" Blaine asked weakly, pulling back and looking up at him.

"No honey. My family is loving and supportive. My stepbrother is a lovable doofus and Rachel's the reason I'm here," he told him reassuringly. "She grew up with two gay dads. I promise, tonight will more than make up for what happened last night."

Blaine spent the whole day in Kurt's arms after that. It took coaxing from Kurt but he finally went and got himself cleaned up and presentable for Kurt's family.

While Blaine was in the shower, Kurt sought out Jeremiah. He was sitting on the balcony of the suite looking dejected. Kurt walked right up to him and slapped him across the face.

"How dare you!" he shouted. Jeremiah didn't react. He didn't flinch, he didn't shout back at him, he just sat there continuing to look dejected. "Do you have any idea how hurt Blaine has been all day? Do you even care?!"

Jeremiah finally opened his mouth to say something and Kurt put up his hand.

"No wait, I don't want an explanation from you," he said then. "You are a disgusting excuse for a gay man Jeremiah." With that, he turned on his heel and walked back inside, leaving Jeremiah with his head in his hands.

Kurt was still fuming something awful when he and Blaine were on their way to the Hudmel household but he did a good job at not showing it. Blaine would not let go of his hand and he could tell the poor guy was nervous. He felt his heart break for him.

The car stopped in front of the house and Kurt was happy to see that Carole was already standing there with the door open, a warm smile on her face.

"Hi Carole!" Kurt greeted as soon as the driver had let him and Blaine out of the car. "This is Blaine. Blaine, this is my stepmother Carole."

Blaine plastered on a smile and tried to mask his nervousness. "Pleasure to meet you ma'am," he said, sticking out a hand for her to shake.

She looked at him for a moment before laughing warmly. "Oh sweetheart, call me Carole." Blaine was surprised when she pulled him into a hug and Kurt smiled appreciatively. "And we hug in this family."

When they broke apart so Carole could hug Kurt, the pale man noticed that Blaine looked a lot more relaxed.

Everything seemed to go uphill from there. Carole lead them into the house where Blaine was introduced to Burt, Finn, and Rachel, the last of which started to chat his ear off, reminding Blaine and Kurt a million times over that Kurt wouldn't be there if it weren't for her.

"So Blaine, do you go to school?" Burt asked and he was genuinely interested in hearing the answer.

"Oh yes," Blaine replied, setting down his fork. "I'm a music major at NYU."

Rachel's fork clattered to her plate. "You live in New York?!" she asked surprised. Blaine nodded his head and she went on. "Why didn't we know this?! Kurt could have met you ages ago!"

Kurt face palmed but Blaine just laughed and put a reassuring hand on Kurt's arm.

"New York is a big city Rachel. Chances are very slim," he replied confidently. And while he was at it, he looked at Carole. "This is exquisite by the way Carole," he complimented the food.

"Oh thank you dear. I'm glad you like it," she replied.

Finn was sitting with his brow furrowed. "So like, aren't we supposed to feed the camera guys too?" he asked and Kurt face palmed again. "What?" Finn prompted when everyone else laughed and Rachel shook her head at him.

For the most part, everything went off without a hitch, except for when Finn freaked out after knocking his water glass onto Blaine's lap. "Dude I'm so sorry!" But it went very well. His family seemed to like Blaine and Blaine seemed to like his family.

"You were right Kurt," Blaine said when they were in the car on their way back to the hotel. They would be flying back to LA the next day. Kurt looked at him confused. "That totally made up for last night."

Kurt smiled. "I'm glad," he said and enwrapped Blaine in a gentle hug.

There was obvious tension between Blaine and Jeremiah over the next few days after they'd returned to the mansion. On the other hand, he and Kurt were getting closer.

Finally, the night arrived. The night where Blaine would have to decide between the two of them. That night, he would pick the one he wanted to be with and though Kurt felt he had a pretty good idea who Blaine was going to choose, he was still scared that he wouldn't pick him.

Again, Jeremiah was the first up. He would receive the news of Blaine's decision first, alone and separate from Kurt. Kurt was on tender hooks the entire time he was gone. Jeremiah, did not come back.

Finally, someone beckoned to Kurt that it was time. The pale man straightened his tie and held his head up high, walking from the mansion for what might be the last time and starting up the walk to where Blaine was waiting for him by the fountain.

"Hello Kurt," Blaine said with a warm smile on his face.

"Hi Blaine," Kurt replied, breathless. Blaine reached out his hands for Kurt's and Kurt slid his own into Blaine's. They felt so perfect and right at home there and he prayed to a God he didn't believe in that he would be able to keep holding them for the rest of his days.

"From the moment I first laid eyes on you, I felt a spark," Blaine began. "You were absolutely gorgeous and turned out to be impossibly caring and sweet and I just had to see more of you. So I kept you around," he went on. Kurt swallowed and nodded his head, a tear forming in his eye. "The more time I spent with you, the more I found myself growing attached to you and you quickly became the most important person in this house to me."

Kurt choked back a sob and gave Blaine a watery smile. "You've always been the most important to me," he said, prompting Blaine to smile back at him.

"Last week, you told me you'd already fallen in love with me," Blaine continued. Kurt nodded his head. "Well Kurt, the truth is, I fell for you too." And here Kurt began to full on cry. Happy tears of course. Blaine got down on one knee. "Which is why I am asking you to accept this final rose in an offer to be mine." He held out a rose to him and Kurt cried out in happiness.

"Yes!" he choked out. "Yes, yes! A thousand times yes!" He took the rose and threw himself into Blaine's arms, tears still leaking from his eyes.

And then it happened. Blaine pulled back and kissed him soundly, full on the mouth. Kurt melted into the kiss he had been waiting for for so long, Blaine catching him as his knees actually buckled from beneath him.

When they broke apart, Blaine helped him up and the two of them walked back to the mansion, hand in hand to start their journey of happily ever after. Well, once they returned to New York City.

* * *

"You've been watching that reality show too much daddy," Cerina said, prompting Chris to laugh. She yawned loudly and Chris and Darren both stood up.

"All right, bed time munchkin," Darren said as he leaned over to tuck her back into the covers. He pecked her on the forehead and stood back so Chris could do the same.

"Tomorrow you get a C story from papa," Chris told the little girl. She smiled softly, eyes drooping as she snuggled further into her blankets.

Chris moved to turn on her night light as Darren watched her drift to off to sleep, mumbling something neither of them could catch.

Darren took the hand Chris held out for him a few moments later and followed him out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Do we get our own happily ever after?" Darren asked as the two of them walked to their own room. Chris' story had been quite a bit longer than Darren's had but that was okay. Darren was already cooking up his story in his head. He would be prepared the next night.

Chris smiled at him, pushing open the door to their room. "I thought we already had our happily ever after," he said, sliding his arms up around Darren's neck.

"Mm," Darren replied, wrapping his own arms around Chris' waist. "That's very true." Chris smiled again and kissed him hard and needy.

"Good. Now give me a happy night because I want you," Chris spoke seductively. Darren wasted no time pushing him into their room and shutting the door behind them.

It would be a happy night for everyone.


	4. Candy Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh! After fighting with my internet for at least half an hour I am finally getting this up. It is significantly shorter than the last chapter but I feel it's cute. And I have my idea for the next one.
> 
> Next chapter will be DISNEY. For now, I hope you enjoy CANDY MAN. Comments make me smile!

Darren was flicking channels on the television while Chris finished up the dishes. He had already bathed Cerina and the little girl was playing with her dolls on the floor.

Chris came into the living room wiping his hands on a dish towel. "Channel surfing again Darren?" he asked with a laugh.

Darren looked up at him, setting down the remote. He smiled at his husband and patted the couch next to him. Chris put the dish towel on the end table and sat down beside him, sighing happily.

"Willy Wonka!" Cerina squealed, looking up at the TV and dropping her dolls. She climbed up on the couch and wiggled her way between her parents, swinging her legs excitedly as her eyes fell on the screen. The two men laughed.

Darren picked up the remote and muted the television and Cerina gave him a frown. "It'll be bed time before it's over so how about I just tell you tonight's story instead?" he said.

The little girl squealed and kicked her legs.

"Yes papa! A is for artificial intelligence and B is for bachelor! So what is C for?"

"Funny you should ask that," Darren replied, pulling her into his lap, allowing Chris to move closer again and smiling at his little girl. "Because C just happens to be for candy man."

Cerina's eyes lit up and Darren laughed, beginning the story.

"Once…"

* * *

There was a boy named Kurt. Now Kurt was a bright and happy little boy. At least while his mother was still alive. He loved just about anything that little kids did. But most of all he loved his mother's baking and homemade candy.

Kurt was more prone just to eating the sweets until one morning when he was about six, he decided to look at what else was on besides Saturday morning cartoons.

Click click click, went the remote, so fast there was barely a blip of sound in the passing channels. Until he saw a flash of a boy falling into some sort of brown stuff. Kurt's eyes went wide as saucers as he stopped on the channel.

They lit on the people in the scene that were surrounded by the most amazing looking candy Kurt had ever seen.

"Mommy! Mommy!" he called and Elizabeth Hummel came into the room.

"What is it sweetie?" she asked, brandishing a spoon with which she had been stirring batter.

"Look at all that candy!" Kurt cried excitedly. Elizabeth looked up at the television and smiled softly as she realized what it was Kurt had stopped on.

"That's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," she said.

Kurt's eyes went wide as he recognized the name of a candy brand. "Than that's what I want to do someday," he said randomly, sliding off the couch and walking up to the screen, placing his small hands palm flat against it.

"Oh? What's that sweetheart?" Elizabeth asked.

"Become a candy man," Kurt replied in awe. And that was exactly what he did.

Eleven years later, Kurt was working as an assistant in the candy shop in the mall. The proprietor, who made all the candy themselves was happy to let Kurt experiment after closing for the day.

"Now I'm trusting you with the shop while I'm away Kurt," his boss said one morning as they were just preparing to open. His boss was getting married that evening and he and his wife-to-be were going on a month long honeymoon. After much deliberation, Kurt's boss had decided to leave him in charge, despite him only being seventeen and the youngest person on the staff. The fact was he was the one he trusted the most.

"You can count on me sir," Kurt said. "Have fun on your honeymoon." He offered the man a gentle smile and a nod of his head. The man smiled back.

"I know I can Kurt. Please do not let me down." He patted him on the shoulder and turned to walk away.

Kurt watched him go before he turned and disappeared into the shop, preparing open it for the day. He was hoping to get a lot of business that day as teenagers love their sugar.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened that day at the shop. It wasn't until the next morning that things seemed to go a little awry.

When Kurt got to the shop the next morning, he noticed that something was very very wrong. One of the windows had been broken in and several of the shelves ransacked. Candy was left scattered all over the floor and the pale boy tensed. Someone, or someones, had broken in overnight but who would break into a candy shop?

Panic swept over him and Kurt ran to immediately check the cash box, safe, and register. All the money was still there. Which meant whomever had broken in the night before had been there for the candy. Somebody had apparently not wanted to pay.

Kurt's first reaction after that was to call the cops and in a matter of minutes, the shop was swarming with the men in blue. He had called everyone off shift for the day, knowing that there was no way they were going to get any business done.

As he was speaking to one of the officers, a gorgeous dapper boy in a red and navy blazer hesitantly stepped into the shop, looking less than pleased. He had a wad of bills in his hand.

"Excuse me," Kurt said to the officer. He approached the boy. "I'm sorry but we're closed until further notice." The boy gave him a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head.

"Um," he said biting his lip. "I'm not here to buy anything." Kurt gave him a confused look.

"Than what do you want?" he asked.

The boy looked up at him with uncertainty. "I want to pay for the candy my friends stole last night," he said quietly, holding out the money he was holding in his hand.

Kurt raised an eyebrow and looked him over for a moment. He was so gorgeous and he felt his stomach swoop but this boy was not someone he wanted to be caught dead with. Especially if he just let his friends break in to the candy shop and didn't do anything about it.

"What's your name?" he asked finally. The boy swallowed and straightened his tie.

"Blaine," he replied.

"Blaine what?" Kurt pressed, placing his hands on his hips.

"Anderson," the boy said. "Blaine Anderson. I go to Dalton Academy. Look I'm really really sorry about Nick and Jeff. They don't know how to wait until things are open."

Kurt didn't care to stand there and listen to this boy ramble. Though he was giving him quite useful information. He cleared his throat and Blaine looked at him expectantly.

"Well Blaine Anderson," Kurt stressed, hands still on his hips. I'm not sure why you're in a school uniform on a Sunday but you can tell your friends that I will be pressing charges. And seeing as you go to private school, their families should be more than capable of paying the cost of damages. Now get out of here!"

Blaine looked positively stunned. His olive face paled and he quickly nodded his head, stuttering out apologies and turning on his heel. Kurt let out a sigh as he watched him go and returned to the officer to resume the conversation.

It was a week later, just as Kurt was preparing for closing that Blaine showed up again. It was late. Kurt had already sent the rest of the employees home for the day. He was sweeping in the aisle.

Due to the board that had been temporarily placed over the broken window, he did not see Blaine approaching the shop. Nor would he have recognized him out of uniform.

He looked up when Blaine entered the door and stood straight, holding the broom in one hand and placing his other on his hip.

"Can I help you delinquent?" he drawled. Blaine winced. It was clear that Kurt was still fairly angry.

"Look, I'm really sorry about what Nick and Jeff did," Blaine started. Kurt scoffed. Blaine went on. "But please, is it any reason to take it out on me?" he asked.

Kurt narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Yes actually. You're their friend and if you wanted to help so bad, you should have stopped them from doing it!" he spit out.

Blaine bit his lip and damn that was attractive. No. Kurt could not think of this delinquent boy as attractive. He had more important things to worry about. Grabbing a box of fudge off a shelf, he moved back to the counter, slid some of his own money into the register and dug in. Candy was the perfect thing when you were stressed.

"Please, I didn't know about it until the next day!" Blaine protested. Kurt scoffed again and refused to look up from his box of fudge. Truth be told, he was afraid he would break his resolve and start being nice to this boy who honestly had him all doe eyed, if he looked at him again.

Blaine cleared his throat and went on. "You see at Dalton some of us go home for the weekend. And some of us stay there. I was at home and returned to school later on Sunday. That's when they showed me their stash of candy and when I asked them where they got it, they flat out told me that they'd broken into the candy shop at the mall."

Kurt wasn't sure if he was really buying this story or not. He wrinkled his nose and scoffed again, consuming another bit of fudge.

"You're the candy man right?" Blaine suddenly said out of the blue. Kurt stared up at him in surprise before he shoved the box away slightly and stared down at the counter.

"Not yet, no," he replied.

Blaine gave him a peculiar look. "But you run the shop and I know all the candy here is made by the shop owner," he pointed out.

"That's true but I'm not the owner," Kurt told him.

"You're not?" Blaine asked in surprise.

Kurt laughed and shook his head. "No. I'm just a seventeen year old high school junior who wanted to be Willy Wonka when he was six. My boss is on his honeymoon. He left me in charge of the shop while he's gone," he explained.

Blaine cautiously approached the counter and leaned on it. "That explains why you've been so harsh about the break in. You don't want him to think you did a bad job."

A sigh left Kurt's throat. "Exactly. He entrusted me of everyone. He knows this shop means a lot to me. He let's me experiment with making my own candy. It's still a dream of mine to become a real candy man."

Blaine let out a chuckle. "Maybe we should start over. I'm Blaine," he said, holding out a hand.

Kurt looked at it hesitantly for a moment before he took it in his own hand. "Kurt."

"Pleasure to meet you Kurt. I'm sorry it wasn't under better circumstances."

"And I'm sorry I treated you so poorly Blaine. It wasn't your fault you have idiot friends," Kurt said, prompting Blaine to laugh. "Is there anything to can do to make it up to you?" he asked then.

The curly haired boy seemed to think about it for a moment.

"Two things. One, you can give me a job," and Kurt laughed, "And two, you can let me take your for coffee sometime."

Kurt's breath caught in his throat for a moment. "You mean like on a date?"

Blaine blushed as deep red as the bow tie he was wearing and smiled softly up at him.

"Do you want it to be a date?" It was Kurt's turn to blush. He certainly wasn't expecting this boy to be interested in him like that. He was too gorgeous to be gay. But here he was asking him if he wanted it to be a date.

"You're beautiful," Kurt blurted, clapping a hand to his mouth. Blaine just chuckled lightly.

"Not nearly as beautiful as you are," he said, wrinkling his nose and smiling wholeheartedly at the other boy and well, Kurt couldn't help it. He fell for that dapper charm right then and there.

"Deal," he said softly. Blaine smiled at him even more and it was only then that Kurt realized they were still holding hands. Blaine seemed to notice it too fore he brought Kurt's hand to his lips and pressed the barest of kisses to the back of it. Kurt felt his breath catch and his cheeks go warm.

"Than I look forward to it," Blaine said.

Kurt looked at the clock just then. "I'm really sorry Blaine, but you have to go now. It's after closing time." He was frowning like he really didn't want him to go. But it was protocol. "But be here tomorrow after you get out of school tomorrow, yeah?"

"What for?" Blaine asked in a confused voice. Kurt laughed.

"Well, you said to give you a job," he said with a wink. It was Blaine's turn to laugh.

"In that case, I'll see you tomorrow Kurt," he said with a mock salute. Kurt just shook his head and grabbed the broom again as he watched the dapper boy leave the shop with a final wave and a blown kiss which Kurt could not help but to hold dear to his heart already.

And so began the life of the candy man in the making and his candy love, even if they didn't know it yet.

* * *

"Papa, your stories have been much shorter than daddy's," Cerina pointed out, prompting Chris to laugh and Darren to look offended. On the TV the Oompa Loompas were mutely singing about Mike Teavee.

"That's because daddy's a writer. I'm not," Darren finally said, watching his little girl yawn widely and looking up at the clock, noting that it was just about time to put her to bed.

Chris stood from the couch and scooped her up into his arms. She nuzzled into his neck.

"I said they were shorter. Doesn't make them any less good," she said sleepily, already beginning to doze on Chris' shoulder.

Darren smiled at her softly, watching his little girl fall asleep right on his husband's shoulder.

"We'll get her a lollipop tomorrow," Chris whispered some moments later when they had tucked Cerina in and were standing there watching her sleep.

"Okay," Darren replied before grabbing his husband's hand and starting to lead him out of the room. "But I want my lollipop tonight," he added with a wink.

Chris just shook his head as Darren pulled him along to their room. Goodness knew with the idea that was forming in his head for the next night's story, Darren was going to be an excitable puppy. But Chris loved his excitable puppy and he wouldn't trade him for the world.


	5. Disney

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long guys. Been doing other stuff and by the time I sat down to write, I was too tired to do much more than a few paragraphs. Also I am not happy with the changes to adding a chapter. I have no computer do I do all my work on my cell phone app and then copy and paste. I'm not happy that because of the changes I had to physically reinsert my paragraph breaks. That was annoying.
> 
> Anyway, next is ELEVATOR. Enjoy DISNEY! Comments make me smile.

The next night, Chris and Darren had two four year old princesses on their hands. They were doing an overnight baby-sitting job for Amber who was away for a night somewhere where she couldn't bring her daughter.

So, instead of Chris giving Cerina and Patrice a bath on his own, Darren pitched in to help out. The girls were splashing around excitedly in the tub and Chris decided to use Darren as a shield.

"Whoa!" Darren got out as a splash of bubbles splattered over his shirt. The toddlers giggled.

Chris wrapped a towel around Darren from behind and shook his head. "I have an idea," he said.

Darren looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Cerina grabbed a rubber duck and began making him sail across the bathtub while her eyes went to her daddy.

"What's that?" Patrice giggled, patting the water with her hands.

"Yes Chris honey, what's your idea?" Darren asked, patting down his shirt with the towel.

Chris moved forward and sat beside Darren, ultimately putting himself in the line of fire but he smiled and glanced at the little girls in the tub.

"If you two promise to stop splashing, I'll tell you the D story now," he said, causing his own daughter squeal and Patrice to look confused.

"What's the D story?" she asked. Cerina giggled.

"Daddy and papa are teaching me the alphabet by telling me a story every night. Tonight is the letter D. We've already had A for artificial intelligence, B for bachelor, and C for candy man," she explained happily.

"That's right Cerina, very good," Chris said, smiling at his daughter. "Do we have a deal?"

The two little girls looked at each other. "Okay!" they chorused and settled down in the water, looking expectantly at Chris.

"Now, the D story is called Disney," Chris said. There was a squeal and Chris shook his head when he realized it had come from his husband who hastily apologized and had the decency to look sheepish. The toddlers laughed. "Honestly Darren," Chris said, shaking his head a second time.

"I said sorry," he said, shrugging.

"Anyway, our story this evening opens at Disney World."

* * *

Blaine entered the locker room in the employees only section of the Magic Kingdom Park at Disney World for the first time. He hadn't ever thought that he would find himself hired to be a character actor for Disney but he was ecstatic.

He walked across the room to his assigned locker and worked the given combination to pull it open. And there it was. The Aladdin costume was neatly folded and stored in the locker for him. It was a dream come true for him.

"They can't keep having you play three different characters Lady Hummel. It's nuts," Blaine heard a voice say as two people entered the locker room.

He took note that it was a Latina girl and Mickey Mouse. Blaine was gawking for a moment.

"I'm not a full time Mickey and as for Pinocchio and Woody," replied a voice from under the Mickey's head. "It's not like they need them both at the same time."

Blaine was a bit stunned. The Mickey actor also played both Pinocchio and Woody?

The Latina sighed and gave her head a shake. "True. They have several Mickeys but I feel like you never have time off. Rachel's still not happy with us for taking Disney jobs and moving here."

There was a muffled sigh and a sound like rustling and Blaine assumed the Mickey actor was pulling the head off.

"I don't give a damn what Rachel thinks Santana," came the voice next, more distinct than it had been under the Mickey head and Blaine felt chills go up his back. The voice was delicately high-pitched, melodic, and angelic and he could feel his toes curling with the anticipation of knowing this man. "It's not up to her.

Blaine turned away, intending to mind his own business but continuing to listen to the conversation between the two of them all the same anyway

"Whatever. I still think you should talk them into letting you ditch the Woody and Pinocchio heads because your resemblance is uncanny. You don't need them," the Latina quipped. Blaine had yet to see what this guy looked like so he got an idea by that notion.

The sound of someone walking across the room and moving to open a locker filled a stretch of silence before the Mickey replied.

"We've been over this. The characters have heads because they aren't people," he said carefully. "Woody is supposed to be a toy and Pinocchio is a puppet."

"So which one are you meant to be right now?" the Latina asked. Blaine registered more footsteps as she went to her own locker and he wondered who she was playing.

"Woody. Aren't you supposed to be getting your new Aladdin today?" he asked. The Latina let out a slightly annoyed sigh.

"Yes, and I hope the guy knows it's just an act. I prefer my sexual conquests have lady parts," she replied.

Blaine figured this might be a good cue to step in on. By the sound of it, the Latina was his Jasmine. He finally turned to face them. Mickey had half his costume down exposing a slim upper torso covered in a white undershirt. His head was buried in his locker. On the bench behind him sat a Mickey head and a Woody head. The Latina was also buried in her locker, pulling out the parts to her costume.

"Excuse me," Blaine said politely, prompting the girl to pull her head out of her locker. The Mickey guy didn't react so he must not have heard him.

"Can I help you gel boy?" she quipped, stunning Blaine at her apparent brashness. Still he walked over and stuck his hand out to her with a smile.

"I'm Blaine. I've just been hired to play Aladdin." The girl looked him up and down for a moment before taking his hand and giving it a shake.

"Santana," she replied. "Let's get a few things straight. You may be a sexy hobbit but the lovey dovey stuff is to be kept for show. I'm a lesbian so I'm not interested in what you have between your legs, got it?"

Blaine was slightly taken aback again by the brashness. "Oh, you don't have to worry. I'm gay so I'm about as much interested in what you have up top as you are in what I have between my legs," he said.

Santana smirked and glanced over her shoulder to where the Mickey was still buried in his locker. "I like you hobbit," she replied. "And maybe you can get it on with Micwoodio over there," she added, pointing over her shoulder.

That seemed to get the guy's attention and he finally extracted himself from his locker. And the moment Blaine's eyes took him in, he felt his breath catch in his throat.

First of all, Santana had been right. He did look uncannily enough like Pinocchio and Woody to play the characters without the heavy heads. But aside from that, he was absolutely gorgeous.

He was slender and a few inches taller than Blaine. He had delicately pale skin, alabaster it was called. His hair, though having had been squashed under the Mickey head, was immaculately styled in a coif of chestnut. His facial features were defined but perhaps his most stunning feature were his eyes. They were a beautiful mix of blue, green, and gray.

He seemed to have had a spark moment at the same time he saw Blaine and hesitated for a moment before finding his resolve.

"Micwoodio Santana, really?" he quipped, folding his arms across his chest and raising an eyebrow.

Santana shrugged. "I didn't want to say all three of them so sue me," she replied. "This is Blaine. He's my gay Aladdin," she went on, causing Blaine to blush. "Blaine this is Micwoodio, better known as Kurt."

Kurt.

The name stuck in Blaine's brain as he tried to find his composure. It was perfect. The perfect name for the perfect guy.

"Pleasure to meet you Kurt," Blaine said, sticking out a hand politely. Kurt dropped the Woody costume on the bench and approached with a soft closed mouth smile, taking Blaine's proffered hand.

"Pleasure's all mine," he said.

"I'm sure it is," Santana quipped from behind him, prompting Blaine to flush and Kurt to toss her a glare.

"Anyway, welcome to the Magic Kingdom hobbit. Now I suggest you get that costume on before we're late for photo op." She busied herself then with pulling her costume out and proceeding to change right in front of him without much care. Kurt sighed and returned to his locker. "Don't mind her. Insults are just her way of showing she likes you," he said, pulling Woody's boots out of the locker. "Welcome. I hope you enjoy working at Disney."

Blaine watched Kurt move to hang his Mickey head on a hook meant for supporting the costume heads before he returned to pulling his own costume out and making to change.

Working at Disney turned out to be more than Blaine had ever even imagined for himself. He even got to know Santana a bit as the weeks progressed and actually found despite her brashness, he liked her. Kurt was a different story. Blaine didn't get to see him much outside of the locker room, unless he shared an occasional lunch break with Santana, which she invited Kurt along too.

But the point was that Kurt played Mickey, Woody, and Pinocchio, none of which had reason to hang out with Blaine's Aladdin. The closest they got was in a parade. But in that case, Disney had a stand-by to fill in for either Woody or Pinocchio, depending on which character Kurt was portraying for the parade. They had several Mickeys but he was their main actor for the other two.

All this was about to change though as about two months after Blaine had started working for Disney, their boss stormed into the locker room in a flourish of panic, startling the cast members that were in there.

"Something wrong?" Kurt asked. He was halfway through his transition of switching from Pinocchio to Woody. Blaine was halfway in his Aladdin costume and halfway out, changing for his lunch break.

"Wrong would be an understatement," the woman admitted with a shake of her head, putting a hand to her forehead.

"What now?" Santana asked with a roll of her eyes. Judging by her reaction, this wasn't the first time the boss had flown into the locker room with ruffled feathers.

The woman frowned at her and then looked at Kurt. "I'm sorry Kurt, but our Buzz just up and quit and unless I can find a last minute temporary replacement, there will be no Toy Story today or tomorrow or however long it takes me to find a new one." She frowned even more.

"I'll do it," Blaine piped up suddenly, prompting their boss to look over in surprise.

"Blaine, you've only been here for two months. Are you sure you're capable of handling double the load?" she asked.

But Blaine just smiled at her. "Sure. Besides, I'll get to work with other people and as a result, get to know them more," he said.

The woman sighed, noting that she really didn't have any other choice right then. "Fine. Buzz's head is on the hook," she said, pointing to the massive character head. "The rest of the costume, is stored over there. That includes the wings. We'll have to get you fitted for your own costume, but that will have to do for now," she told him. With a quick thank you, she turned on her heel and hurried out of the locker room.

Kurt was blinking over at Blaine. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked gently.

Blaine offered him a smile. "How hard could it be?"

"These character heads aren't exactly light Blaine," Kurt pointed out.

"I'm stronger than people think," Blaine replied. "Besides, it will give me a reason to get to know you better." Kurt blushed and quickly buried himself in his locker. But Blaine just smiled satisfactorily, continuing to change out of his Aladdin costume.

It meant he had to forego his scheduled lunch break because it was time for a scheduled Toy Story photo op but it also meant he could spend more time with Kurt so it was a win-win for Blaine.

Surprisingly, the Buzz costume fit him pretty well. Apparently, he and the actor who had just quit were similar in size. But Kurt had been right. The character head was not light. And Blaine marveled at Kurt's ability to take not one but three different ones upon his shoulders throughout the day. They all had to be different weights depending on the detail. The Mickey head had massive ears. The Woody head had the cowboy hat. And the Pinocchio head had the nose that stuck out from the face.

It took Blaine a few moments to get his bearings enough to walk straight with the massive space ranger head resting on his shoulders.

"How do you do this everyday, all day?" he mumbled through the costume toward Kurt who was walking beside him, both of them following the cast member who was their escort.

Kurt laughed lightly, but Blaine still heard it. "You get used to it. And I do spend time at the gym everyday." Blaine nodded inside the head of Buzz, causing the space ranger to nod his own head.

The weight of the head soon became the least of the issues as Blaine discovered it was stifling hot inside the head. The Florida heat wasn't helping matters either. His respect for Kurt grew even more and Blaine wondered if it was possible to get a fan inserted in the costume. At least after the photo op, he could return to the locker room and take the head off.

Blaine found it fairly easy to slip into his new role as Buzz Lightyear. For one thing, he didn't actually have to talk to guests. Nor did he have to smile himself as the costume was painted to do just that. Despite the added pressure of carrying the head on his shoulders, it was actually easier than playing Aladdin. But he loved playing Aladdin.

That day, Kurt and Blaine had lunch together. Santana was off doing some Jasmine solo photo ops. Blaine would join her later, back in his Aladdin costume. It was the first time he had really been alone with Kurt at all.

"So, what did you think?" Kurt asked as the two of them sat at a cafe in the heart of the Magic Kingdom park. He poked at his salad, a small closed mouth smile on his face.

Blaine couldn't help but smile back at him. Kurt's smile was contagious and beautiful. It lit up his whole face, regardless of how small it was.

And then it happened. Instead of answering Kurt's question, Blaine blurted out, "You're beautiful," prompting Kurt to pause in his pursuit of a crouton and look up at him in surprise. Blaine instantly clapped a hand to his mouth. "I'm sorry. That was very forward of me," he said carefully.

Kurt shook his head. "No, no it's okay," he replied, finding his bearings and setting down his fork. "It's just…" He trailed off, biting his lip and blushing.

Blaine reached out and gently put a hand over Kurt's. "Just what Kurt?" he asked quietly.

The pale man lifted his head to allow his piercing blue-green-gray eyes to meet Blaine's honey-hazel ones. He saw nothing less than sincerity in them.

"No one's ever called me that before," he whispered finally. "Well, except Adam," he added, wrinkling his nose slightly.

"Who's Adam?" Blaine asked, surprising himself when a hint of jealously tinged his words.

Kurt must have picked up on it for he smirked at him and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest.

"Oh, just this guy I was sort of dating back in New York," he replied casually. Blaine's fork stilled and he watched him for a moment, feeling his heart sink a little.

"Oh, you're in a relationship than?" And when Kurt heard the obvious disappointment in the curly haired man's voice, he decided it was better just to put him out of his misery and stop playing games. Blaine, might just actually like him.

"No," he sighed. "Adam was…great in the beginning," he started, gesturing with his hand. "He seemed really nice and sweet, a dream come true. But as we started dating more he became…possessive for lack of a better word."

Blaine was stunned for a moment. "You mean one of those guys that has to know where you are and who you're with at all times?" he asked and when Kurt nodded his head, he went on. "I know those too well. My ex-boyfriend Eli was like that," he told him, frowning. He was so glad to get away from Eli finally. "So what did you do?" he asked then.

A small smile appeared on Kurt's face. "I took the job at Disney and Santana and I moved down here," he said nonchalantly.

"So you knew Santana before you worked here?" Blaine questioned, genuine curiosity lacing his voice.

"Yes," Kurt told him. "We went to high school together actually. She, our friend Rachel, and I were all in glee club at our high school."

"Really?" Blaine's eyes lit up at those words. Kurt nodded his head. "I was in my high school glee club too."

"No kidding?" Kurt said and Blaine grinned in reply. "Well, we're just two peas in a pod than aren't we?"

They became more so after that. Getting lunch together everyday and even starting to spend time together outside of work. Kurt and Blaine were both ecstatic when they learned that they had grown up a mere two hours from each other.

"I can't believe you grew up in Westerville!"

"I can't believe you grew up in Lima!"

They were further ecstatic when they learned that their glee clubs had actually competed against each other and that was when something clicked in Kurt's brain.

"Oh my god! You're that Blaine Anderson!" His eyes went wide as saucers and Blaine chuckled.

"Honestly Kurt, how many other Blaine Andersons do you know?" Blaine joked.

Kurt smiled sincerely. "Well none, but it sounds like it can be common enough." Blaine just shook his head at that and sipped his medium drip.

They bonded tighter and quicker than anyone either of them had ever bonded with. Santana watched with a knowing fondness. She aided the budding romance she could see by opting out of joining them for meals more often than not, making up some excuse. Neither of them were any the wiser.

But Blaine knew he was having more than platonic feelings for Kurt and he wondered if maybe, just maybe, his Woody might just feel the same way.

However, trouble came in the form of a cast member named Chandler, who played John Smith and was one of the Donald Ducks. It was obvious that this Chandler had a thing for Kurt and because he often was playing Donald when Kurt was playing Mickey, he had plenty of times to make passes at him and Blaine could not stop the growing jealously whenever Chandler was around.

Kurt's phone beeped one evening as he and Blaine were both preparing to leave and Blaine looked over in time to see Kurt smiling down at the phone. The pale man glanced over his shoulder and across the locker room where Chandler was folding the top to his John Smith costume. The blonde smiled over at Kurt and sent him a wink.

That was it for Blaine. Something snapped. He merely shoved the rest of his Aladdin costume into his locker, grabbed his bag, and slammed it shut, proceeding to storm out of the locker room.

"Blaine?" Kurt questioned in confusion. Blaine ignored him, causing Kurt to frown because they had had plans for dinner together that evening and a few rides before the park closed.

But Blaine just kept on walking. If Kurt really liked this Chandler guy over him, he could have told him as much instead of stringing him along like a lovesick puppy. Blaine could feel the hurt in his heart begin to grow and he fought furiously to keep the tears from sliding down his face.

Instead of hanging outside the locker room to wait for Kurt like he would usually do if he was done first, albeit with an, "I'll see you in a minute," he kept right on walking to the front entrance, intending just to get in his car and go home.

He increased his pace as he walked up to where the monorail station was, climbing aboard the already waiting monorail and slumping into a seat, finally allowing the tears to fall.

Back in the park, Kurt was rushing out of the locker room and finding Blaine nowhere to be seen. He was confused. This wasn't like Blaine at all. And he didn't have any idea what could have changed the man's mood so drastically that he would storm out without a word to him.

Kurt swallowed hard. Had he messed up? He really liked Blaine, maybe even found himself falling for him - which was a scary thought - and now it appeared he had lost all chance of that.

Pulling his cell phone back out of his pocket, he shot a text off to Blaine.

To: Blaine

Are you okay?

He waited five minutes with no answer. That was peculiar. Blaine usually replied instantly.

To: Blaine

Blaine?

To: Blaine

Please?

To: Blaine

Talk to me.

To: Blaine

Did I do something wrong?

It was this text that seemed to finally prompt a reply out of Blaine and it broke Kurt's heart.

From: Blaine

Stop blowing up my phone and leave me the hell alone! Go get dinner with your lovey dovey Chandler or something!

Kurt's hand shook and he very nearly dropped his iPhone on the ground. Tears immediately pushed their way out of his eyes. Chandler. Of course. Blaine had noticed his advances. But wait, did that mean Blaine liked him like Kurt liked Blaine? It had to. Otherwise he wouldn't be so upset about it.

Kurt fumbled for the text message he had received from Chandler just before Blaine had stormed out.

From: Chandler

You must be tired because you've been running through my mind all day.

Cheesy pick-up lines. Kurt had never taken them as anything serious. He thought they were nice and they made him giddy and he liked the way they made him feel but he didn't like Chandler, not in that way. He realized now that he should have put an end to it a long time ago.

"Hey Kurt," came the voice of the very person he really didn't want to see just then. Kurt pocketed his phone quickly and turned to face Chandler. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Santana coming out and she gave her head a fierce shake as she headed off.

"Oh, hi Chandler," Kurt said in a resigned voice. Chandler didn't seem to notice.

"So I noticed you seem to finally have free time," Chandler went on and he wasn't so subtle at hiding his dislike for Blaine, a fact that had Kurt's blood boiling. "I thought maybe you'd like to have dinner with me?" he prompted next.

Kurt stared at him for a long moment. Really? He had the nerve to do this now when he was the reason that Blaine was mad at him? Kurt knew what he had to do.

"No thank you," he said sternly. Chandler looked pleasantly surprised, like he hadn't expected that response from Kurt.

"Come on Kurt. I know you like me. You can't seriously be upset that the gel head stormed out tonight."

That did it. Kurt, who had turned to walk off, spun on his heel and slapped Chandler hard across the face.

"Don't you EVER talk about Blaine like that again!" he yelled. Chandler stared at him in surprise. "I did like you, but only as a friend. And as far as I'm concerned, we're not even that anymore!" he went on as Chandler continued to stare at him with wide eyes. "Stay away from me! And don't text me anymore either! I'm done with you!" That said, Kurt turned on his heel and marched away, leaving Chandler standing there in stunned silence and clutching a hand to his reddening cheek.

Kurt knew what he had to do then. He had to get to Blaine.

He rushed out of the park, knowing without a doubt Blaine had probably gone straight home. He was a bit impatient as he had to wait for the monorail but he was glad he didn't have to wait for long.

It was slow going as the monorail headed back to the main parking lot and the connecting monorail to Epcot and buses to the other parks.

The moment the doors opened, Kurt ran for his car, pulling out his keys as he did. He saw Blaine's parking spot, noting that it was empty and knew he had already left. He had a good idea of what he was going to do to fix things.

Getting into his car, Kurt shoved the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot as quickly as he could manage. He drove a little ways through downtown Disney before pulling up in front of a little Italian restaurant he knew Blaine had fallen in love with.

He parked and rushed into the establishment. The hostess greeted him with a smile.

"Hello Kurt? Where's Blaine?" she asked, frowning slightly.

"That's what I'm trying to fix," Kurt said carefully. "Listen Meghan, can you get me both our usuals to go and also a bottle of wine?" he asked.

Meghan seemed to sense the urgency in his voice fore she nodded. "Right away Kurt. I'll even give you the wine on the house," she said.

"That's very kind of you, thank you," he replied.

The agonizing twenty minute wait for the food seemed to stretch on forever but the moment he received it, he uttered another word of thanks and rushed back out to his car.

Kurt was certain he had never driven anywhere as fast as he drove to Blaine's apartment just then. He was sure he was going over the speed limit and he was lucky he didn't get caught by the cops. Luck seemed to be on his side that night, so far anyway.

When he parked in front of Blaine's building, he took a minute to go over what he was going to say to the other man. He needed to handle this quick and efficiently.

Palms sweating, Kurt grabbed the food and wine and got out of the car. His eyes traveled over Blaine's car as he passed by it on the way into the building. He could feel his heart beating out of his chest as he climbed the stairs. Blaine was home. He knew that much but the question was, would he open the door?

He drew a breath as he approached apartment 303 and shifted the bags and wine to one hand so he could raise the other to knock. He spent the next few minutes going over in his mind again what he wanted to say.

The door opened to reveal a disheveled looking Blaine. His eyes were red rimmed and his hair was mussed.

"Kurt?" Blaine questioned in a croaky voice.

But Kurt lost all sense of what he'd been planning to say then. The carry out and wine dropped somewhat gracefully to the floor as he flung himself forward and attached his lips to Blaine's throwing his arms around the other man's neck.

A startled Blaine remained unresponsive for a moment before he brought his arms up to encircle Kurt's waist and kissed him back.

"But I…Chandler…" was all Blaine could get out when they broke for air.

"Means nothing to me," Kurt finished for him. He brought his hand around to cup Blaine's cheek. "But you, you mean everything. I love you Blaine Anderson."

Blaine just stared at him in awe for several moments. "I love you too Kurt Hummel," he replied happily before slamming their lips together again.

2 YEARS LATER BUZZ LIGHTYEAR AND WOODY TO TIE THE KNOT

That's right folks, you read that right. Disney World's Magic Kingdom Park announced recently that Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel who play Buzz and Woody respectfully got engaged last weekend. Hummel proudly showed off the gorgeous simple silver band on his finger during the announcement.

The two met two years ago when Anderson was first hired to play Aladdin alongside Hummel's friend Santana Lopez who was Disney's Jasmine at the time. She has since become a performer in the Indiana Jones stunt show at Disney's Hollywood Studios Park. Anderson soon gave up Aladdin to take on Buzz full time just so he could spend more time with Hummel. Hummel meantime retired from both Pinocchio and as one of Disney's coveted Mickeys to pursue just Woody.

You may remember the article when the two first became a couple that stated Disney's John Smith and subsequent Donald Duck at the time who requested not to be named in this, mysteriously quit his job in the park, giving no explanation as to why other than that it was all Anderson's fault.

Details on the wedding of the two have yet to be determined but we will keep you updated. Though it goes without saying their wedding was created where dreams do come true.

* * *

"Wait, so does that mean Buzz and Woody are gay like you and Uncle Darren?" Patrice asked as Chris wrapped her in a fluffy towel while Darren did the same for Cerina.

Chris chuckled lightly. "No Tricey," he said. "Blaine and Kurt were actors playing Buzz and Woody. The article just found that to be a good headline," he told her.

The four year old still seemed a bit confused so Darren pitched in. "Remember when your mommy took you to Disneyland last summer?" he asked. Patrice nodded her head. "And you met all the Disney characters?" he went on and she nodded her head again. "Well, they were played by actors. Kurt and Blaine were doing the same thing they do."

"Ohhhhhhh," Patrice said, suddenly getting the idea. Chris and Darren both chuckled lightly as they moved to dress the girls in pajamas.

Cerina had been listening quietly while her papa dried her off and dressed her, a feat that was unusual to Chris and Darren as she was usually such a Chatty Cathy.

"Are you okay Cerina, sweetheart?" Chris asked as he helped Patrice pull her nightgown over her head. She seemed to snap out of her reverie to turn and look at him.

"Uh huh. Sorry daddy, I was just thinking," she said.

Chris cocked his head to the side. "And what were you thinking?" he asked her.

"Can we watch Toy Story tonight?" Chris and Darren both laughed and Darren scooped his little girl into his arms as Chris picked up Patrice.

"To infinity and beyond!" Darren shouted, pretending to make Cerina fly as they made their way down the stairs, causing the toddler to burst into giggles.

Chris followed with Patrice, shaking his head the whole way. But he couldn't deny the happy vibe in the air as they all settled in to watch the movie, knowing that two little space rangers or cowgirls would be fast asleep by the end of it.


	6. Elevator

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I know, I know, it's been longer than it should have been. I'm so sorry. I got sucked up by graphics muse for a number of days and didn't even start writing this chapter until last night but it's done now. And the next one won't be at least until after the weekend. It's registration weekend on one of my RPs and it's time consuming.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy ELEVATOR. Next chapter is FACE OFF. Kudos if you know what that means. ;) Comments make me smile!

"Because you're always supposed to close your eyes when going down the tunnel slide."

Chris shook his head at his husband's antics. Darren was such a child. Try to take their daughter to the park and he plays on the equipment more than Cerina does. Or at least with more enthusiasm.

At the current moment, the curly haired man was trying to teach their four year old what he considered to be the importance of playground sliding. Rule of thumb, close your eyes on a tunnel slide. Of course with Darren being more compact than Chris was, it was easier for him to fit down the slide with their daughter so he was often the one chasing her around the park while Chris sat in the shade of a tree either reading or writing.

He tuned his husband and daughter out. That was until Cerina came running over to him looking rather frantic.

"Daddy, daddy, papa's stuck!" she shouted. Chris removed his glasses and looked down at her in confusion.

"What do you mean papa's stuck?" he asked, fearing the worst for Darren.

Cerina giggled and pointed to the tunnel slide.

"He tried to go down a funny way and got stuck in the tube." She giggled again.

Good grief. Chris sighed heavily and shut his laptop, standing up, taking his daughter's hand, and allowing her to pull him along. Sure enough, when Chris looked up the bottom of the tube, he could see Darren stuck sideways with his knees pressed uncomfortably up against the plastic.

"Really Dare? Really?!" Chris got out in frustration before he grabbed both sides of the slide and climbed up onto the open scoop at the bottom.

"What are you doing?" Darren asked.

"I'm going to attempt to unstick you," Chris said, ducking his head into the tunnel and wincing when he banged it on the underside of the top of the slide.

Darren shook his head as Cerina climbed up easily beside her daddy.

"No wait. This is the perfect opportunity to tell my E story," he said.

Chris raised an eyebrow and Cerina giggled and applauded happily. Chris sighed.

"Really? Stuck in a slide too small for you is the place you want to tell your daughter her E story?" He sounded a bit skeptical and slightly annoyed but he was still smiling so Darren knew he wasn't all that angry with him.

The curly haired man nodded. "Sure. It fits because my story is about being stuck." Chris gave him a look Darren couldn't read. The shorter man bit his lip, trying to keep a straight face.

"You're going to tell our daughter a story about being stuck?" Chris asked in disbelief.

"Yep! And it's called Elevator."

* * *

Kurt huffed in frustration as he glanced at the watch on his wrist. He was running on a schedule and was crunched for time. Nothing had gone all that right so far that day. He slept through his alarm. He spilled coffee on his favorite suit. He missed the subway and had to take a taxi which he somehow had a hell of a time flagging down. And how was that even possible in New York City? Kurt was just glad Isabelle was so understanding.

But today he was meant to be showing a new employee the ropes after his lunch break, which he had just taken. And now the elevator was taking forever to arrive after the people at the cafe he'd gone to messed up his order twice and made him have to rush through his lunch to get back to the office on time.

Kurt jabbed angrily at the up button a few dozen times.

"You know jabbing at it won't make it come any faster, right?" chuckled a voice, startling Kurt and causing him to spill the coffee he held in his hand.

"Mother of Gaga, not again!" the pale man spit out. He huffed in frustration and tossed the rest of the cup in a nearby trashcan.

"Here, I have napkins. I'm so sorry," the stranger said, reaching forward to dab at the stain. Kurt smacked his hand away and glared at the man.

On any other day, Kurt would have felt his breath catch in his throat as he gazed upon this beautiful stranger for the first time. He had curly hair that was gelled down to his head, triangular eyebrows, a warm smile, and olive skin. His eyes were a stunning honey-hazel color and he was dressed in a white polo, mustard pants, and a matching mustard bow tie. He wore loafers with no socks.

But this wasn't any other day. This was the bad day from hell and Kurt was in a bad mood. He certainly was not feeling generous and considerate right then.

"Don't you know how to warn people before you speak and scare the living Gaga out of them?" Kurt snapped at the man whose smile fell. He watched the guy's eyes take on a sort of hurt and worried puppy look and his hand clenched around the napkins he was holding.

"I-I'm sorry," the man said. "Please, I didn't mean to startle you. It's just, you're being a little ridiculously persistent with that elevator, don't you think?"

Kurt stared at him, his features not at all betraying any emotion other than anger and annoyance.

"Clearly you don't know anything about being on a schedule," Kurt quipped, turning and jabbing the up button once more.

The man furrowed his brow. "Well, I'm new here. I'm just starting this afternoon."

That caught Kurt's attention and he wrinkled his nose as he looked the man up and down.

"You're the new hire?" he asked with an air of disbelief.

The man chuckled and stuck out a hand. "Yes. I'm Blaine, Blaine Anderson."

Just then the elevator finally dinged open and Kurt glanced at the man's hand, ignoring the prospect of a shake before turning and walking into the elevator. Blaine frowned and followed him in. Kurt jabbed his finger at the twelve button, continuing to say nothing.

"So, do you um…have a name?" Blaine asked as the doors slid shut and the elevator began to climb upward.

"What kind of stupid question is that?" Kurt snapped cooly. "Of course I have a name."

Blaine swallowed heavily, noting that maybe he wouldn't be making a friend here.

"Well, may I ask what it is?" he asked quietly.

Kurt sighed heavily. "I am your superior. You will call me Mr. Hummel," he told him shortly. Blaine bit his lip and nodded.

"What's your first time?" he asked.

Kurt could feel a headache beginning to form in the depths of his brain. He resisted the urge to reach his hands up and rub at his temples to attempt to stave off the headache.

"Yes. But that Anderson is not a privilege you have earned." Blaine cringed slightly and a small little part of Kurt that wasn't effected by his bad mood felt just a little bit guilty.

Before Blaine could respond however, the elevator gave a mighty lurch, causing both men to stumble. Kurt caught the railing around the perimeter of the small square box while Blaine fell over completely, having not have reacted as quickly.

"What was—" Kurt started to ask but he was cut off by a loud screeching noise that prompted both men to clap their hands over their ears trying to drown out the horrible sound. The screeching was followed by the elevator coming to a complete halt. The lights inside flickered and then went out completely. The entire elevator had completely shut down.

"Did we stop?" Blaine asked quietly.

"Oh no, this cannot be happening," Kurt rushed out, ignoring Blaine's question. He surged forward and jabbed a bunch of times at the unlit twelve button on the panel. It was to no avail. Blaine didn't bother getting up from his spot on the floor as Kurt slid down in his and covered his face with his hands.

Kurt's phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out.

From: Isabelle

Hang tight Kurt, rescue crews are already on their way.

Well thank god for cameras and security being as quick as they were. Isabelle was already aware of the situation which hopefully meant they wouldn't be stuck there that long. And thankfully, Kurt wouldn't lose his job over this either.

"Help is on the way," Kurt relayed to Blaine. But his tone held an air of finality, a suggestion that he wasn't interested in conversing with this guy. Kurt would much rather be alone with his thoughts and he worried that Blaine was one of those really talkative types which was influenced by his seemingly obsessive need to befriend him. Or at the very least, be friendly.

The young pale man rested his head back against the elevator wall and shut his eyes.

"What are you doing?" Blaine asked after a stretch of silence and a seeming reluctance on Kurt's part to keep them both entertained while they waited for help to arrive.

"Trying to take a nap. Now shut-up," Kurt replied sharply, startling Blaine. He sounded as though the answer was obvious. Blaine was confused.

"How can you ever sleep in an elevator?" he pressed.

"I've slept in stranger places," Kurt got out in annoyance. "Now kindly shut your mouth and let me sleep." Blaine didn't say anything else after that.

Silence filled the void, neither man saying anything and it didn't take Blaine long to realize that Kurt had dropped off to sleep, giving him ample time to examine his new boss.

The man was simply stunning. He had delicate pale alabaster skin, chestnut hair that was styled atop his head in a perfect coif, defined facial features, and pink lips that just looked incredibly kissable. Blaine hadn't been able to catch his eye color yet but he was impeccably dressed and a bit taller than Blaine by a few inches. There was no doubt that this man was the most attractive man Blaine had ever seen in his life.

Kurt stirred and Blaine quickly tore his eyes away to stare at the opposite wall of the elevator. He didn't fancy being caught staring at his sleeping boss should Kurt wake up. But Kurt merely turned slightly in his sleep and dropped back off. Blaine let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding.

A faint sound coming from somewhere above had the curly haired man turning his eyes on the ceiling of the elevator. It sounded almost like a drill. Blaine frowned slightly. Why would someone be drilling? Unless they were trying to make a hole in the wall to climb down the shaft. That was a thought.

Blaine suddenly found himself wondering how they planned on rescuing him and Kurt. He had no idea exactly where in the shaft they were. Whether they were suspended between floors or just below the next floor. He knew they weren't just above a floor because they'd left one a few seconds before the elevator began screeching to a halt. So they had to be somewhere between the last floor and the next one, whichever floors those were. Blaine couldn't remember the number of the last floor they passed.

"What is that noise?" grumbled a still half-asleep Kurt. His eyes were barely open, only small slits and Blaine could hardly make out the fact that they were open at all. But he could tell Kurt was looking in his direction.

"Don't know," Blaine replied, looking up again. "It sounds like a drill."

Kurt groaned and pulled himself up into a less slouched position, rubbing his eyes with his hands. Blaine looked at him with a bit of worry. He wondered if the man was getting enough sleep at night. Maybe that was why he was in such a mood.

But as short as his nap seemed to be, it also seemed to do a one-eighty on his attitude.

"I'm so sorry Blaine," Kurt said, calling Blaine by his first name for the first time. "I'm not normally such an asshole. You'll have to forgive me. I've had a trying day and it's only half over!"

Blaine moved to sit beside him, a concerned look on his face. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently.

Kurt let out a sigh and unexpectedly dropped his head onto Blaine's shoulder. "I overslept this morning, spilled coffee on my favorite suit so I had to change, which made me late obviously. Because of that I missed the subway and had to take a taxi, which for some reason was a bitch to flag down. Luckily my boss is so understanding. Then at lunch, the cafe got my order wrong twice and made me have to rush my lunch. So I finally came back here and then the elevator decided to take forever and I was on a schedule. That's when you showed up and caused me to spill my coffee on me for the second time today," he finished rambling.

Blaine was giving him a sympathetic look. "That's terrible…Mr. Hummel. I'm so sorry," he said.

The pale man laughed drily. "You can call me Kurt. Seriously, none of that Mr. Hummel stuff I told you when I was still pissed."

That got a smile out of Blaine. "Okay Kurt." He was quiet for a moment, looking down at his lap and Kurt turned his head to the side, really taking in Blaine's absolutely beautiful features. He really was a gorgeous man.

"What's wrong Blaine?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing's wrong. I was just wondering if you—" He was cut off by a sudden thud on the top of the elevator, causing both men to look up at the ceiling. The drilling sound was much louder now and the next thing Kurt and Blaine knew, the hatch in the top of the elevator was being pried open. A chubby man poked his face in at them.

"Are you gentlemen all right?" he asked.

"We're fine," Blaine said, standing and holding out a hand to Kurt to help him to his feet. It was then that Blaine got his first real look at Kurt's eyes. They were the most amazing swirl of blue, green, and gray he had ever seen before. "Wow…"

Blaine wasn't the only one caught up in the moment. "Yeah…" Kurt whispered breathlessly. The moment was broken however a second later as a rope cascaded down through the open hatch in the ceiling.

"Don't worry. We're going to get you guys right out of here," the man said, snapping them both back to reality.

A rope climb and grapple propel up to the next floor where the elevator doors had been drilled open later, Kurt and Blaine finally found themselves safely back on the building's floor.

Isabelle came running towards them, happy to see that both men were all right. She pulled them both into a warm hug and smiled apologetically at Blaine, telling him she was so sorry he had to experience that on his first day.

"Tell you what Kurt," Isabelle went on. "Why don't you take the rest of the day off. You and Blaine can get to know each other and pick up first thing tomorrow." Kurt had never felt so grateful in his life. He thanked Isabelle and hugged her again as she parted ways with them.

"So, can I take you for coffee?" Blaine asked.

"On one condition," Kurt replied.

"What's that?"

"That we take the stairs," Kurt said. Blaine just laughed and readily agreed and when he naturally slid his hand into Kurt's it was to the reception of a warm smile and a gentle squeeze as the two walked off together.

* * *

"I wouldn't want to take an elevator again after that either," came Chris' voice suddenly from behind Darren. The curly haired man blinked and looked up to see his husband sitting in the mouth of the slide. When had he moved up there?

Cerina seemed to catch on as she allowed herself to slide the rest of the way down the slide and scrambled off the end.

"Chris what are you doing?" Darren asked hesitantly.

"Rescuing you," Chris replied simply. Without warning he pushed off the top of the slide and began sliding down feet first. Darren's eyes went wide as saucers even as his husband plowed into him, successfully pulling Darren unstuck and the two of them slid the rest of the way down in a tangled mess of limbs.

The impact was so strong that Darren flew right off the scoop at the end and landed in the sand, causing Cerina to squeal with giggles. Chris came to a perfect halt with his legs hanging off at the knees and placed his feet in the sand, standing from the slide.

"Come on Dare," Chris said, pulling his husband up from the sand. "I think that's enough playground for one day." Darren scooped up Cerina who buried her face in his neck and yawned, as Chris went to pack up his laptop. "Tomorrow will be F Cer," Chris told her as he joined them. She nodded very slightly before her eyes drooped shut and the family headed home.


	7. Face Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this took a little while and I apologize. I wanted to make sure I had my idea for G before I started writing F. And Blaine Anderson and the Elusive Queen of Hearts came into play too. That will get another chapter but this had to be done. It took me like half a day to write this with distractions and it's nearly as long as the Bachelor chapter was.
> 
> Anyway, a little insight, Face Off is a reality competition on the syfy channel. If you've never seen it, it's the concept as Project Runway except it's for movie makeup instead of fashion design. I do recommend checking it out because the challenges are awesome and some of the concepts the designers come up with are amazing! Most particularly when they expertly execute it in merely 2-3 days time.
> 
> Anyway, next chapter is GRYFFINDOR. Enjoy FACE OFF and remember, comments make me smile.

"Did you take her temperature?" Chris said as he came rushing into Cerina's room where Darren was sitting vigil by the little girl's bedside with a hand on her forehead. Chris dropped his bag on the floor of the room before moving to join them.

"Doing it right now," Darren replied, nodding at the thermometer that was protruding from their daughter's mouth.

Chris was frantic. He'd gotten a call from Darren during a meeting with his publicist. Darren had said that Cerina's school had called and told him that she was burning up and had already vomited her morning snack. Darren had cut his rehearsal to rush to pick Cerina up and called Chris on the way. Chris had to cut his meeting short explaining it was a family emergency and headed home as quickly as he possibly could in the LA traffic.

The pale man began stroking his daughter's hair as the thermometer beeped. Darren pulled it out and cringed. "One hundred and three point two," he read, causing Chris to pale more. "I'll go get some children's Tylenol and maybe call the doctor."

Chris nodded. "Good idea." He continued stroking Cerina's head as Darren hurried out of the room. "Is there anything I can do for you sweetie?"

Cerina looked up at him with big eyes. Her color had all drained out. "Tell me today's story?" she asked in a weak voice.

Chris nodded his head just as Darren rushed back in with the Tylenol and chatting away on the phone. He handed the medicine to Chris who poured out a ration for her and held it to her lips.

"Here sweetie, take this first. It will help you feel better," he said as Darren thanked the doctor and hung up the phone. "What did she say?" he added, not turning his eyes from watching his daughter take the medicine.

"She said if the Tylenol doesn't bring down her fever, give her an ice bath and if that doesn't work, bring her in," he replied. Chris did not like the idea of having to bring his daughter into the hospital. He hoped the Tylenol would work.

Cerina coughed after swallowing the medicine. "Daddy story," she pleaded in her weak voice. Chris chuckled lightly. The last thing he wanted was for her to see how worried he was. He needed to keep her as calm as he possibly could.

"Okay honey. Can you tell me what letter we are on today?" he asked gently as Darren settled himself again at their daughter's bedside.

"F," she squeaked out.

"That's right. And in this case, F stands for Face Off," Chris said and Darren rolled his eyes. Chris and reality shows. He should have known. "We begin the final week of competition."

* * *

Blaine drew a deep breath. He had made it. He was in the finale of this season of Face Off. He couldn't believe it. He had to take a moment to look back on all the weeks of competition, the close calls, and the triumphs. He had won a fair few challenges but he had been on the bottom of a few of them as well. And now it was down to the top three. Blaine, Mercedes, and this older guy named Will.

Blaine and Mercedes had developed quite a friendship, despite competition. They had been partners on some of the partner challenges. They worked well together but they knew now, it was every man for himself so to speak. Will was a nice guy but Blaine had a hard time connecting because he was older than them. By at least fifteen years, probably more.

At least he wasn't stuck in the finale with someone who he couldn't stand. Like David Karofsky. He was the reason Blaine had ended up on the bottom in week two. They had been paired up together and they just could not agree on anything. And then David threw Blaine under the bus but Glenn, Ve, and Neville saw right through him as Blaine was safe and David was sent packing that week.

"What do you think the final spotlight challenge is going to be?" Mercedes asked as the two of them indulged in coffee on the morning the final challenge was meant to begin.

Blaine shrugged. "Not a clue. I just know we're meant to meet McKenzie at the Staples Center," he said. Mercedes nodded, sipping from her coffee.

"You'll do great white boy," she replied. "If any of the three of us have the most talent, it's you," she told him. Blaine blushed. It was true that of the three of them, he had won the most challenges but Blaine did feel like Mercedes was being modest. He didn't like to rub it in nor did he want to get his hopes up that just because he'd won the most, it meant he would surely win the competition. They all wanted and could use that prize.

Will entered then, grabbing a piece of toast. "We better get a move on guys. Otherwise, we'll be late."

Blaine and Mercedes nodded and downed the rest of their coffees, placing the mugs in the sink before the three of them headed out the door.

When they got to the Staples Center, McKenzie was already waiting for them in the center of a stage that had been constructed obviously for someone's tour and it was a fascinating layout but Blaine hardly had the time to take it all in before McKenzie spoke.

"Hello guys. Welcome to the Staples Center and your final spotlight challenge," she said. The three of them grinned and clapped. "For your final spotlight challenge you will each be making two separate makeups. You will have the help of three of the eliminated contestants each."

Blaine and Mercedes grinned and Will nodded.

"Your final spotlight challenge," McKenzie went on, "Is to design makeups for both the artist and five of her dancers." She held up a pouch. "I have three slips in here. One of them contains the name of the artist as well as the name of her lead male dancer. The other two both contain names of a female and male dancer each. You will draw which pair you will be designing for," she went on. "Your finished makeups will be featured in a number during her concert here in LA. You will be judged both on skill and on the durability of your makeup."

All three of them looked between each other with a sense of awe, wondering just who this artist was. She had to be someone big in order to have a concert here at the Staples Center.

"Mercedes, you were the winner last week so you get to choose first," McKenzie said, holding out the pouch.

Mercedes walked forward and stuck her hand in, drawing a paper out and keeping it to herself. McKenzie nodded to Will who also drew a paper out and kept it to himself. Finally, it was Blaine's turn and he fished around for a moment until his hand closed on the final paper in the pouch.

"Okay," McKenzie said. "Now, please welcome back your former competition." Nine of the former contestants entered with smiles on their faces and stood behind McKenzie. "Mercedes, again, you get to choose first who you'd like to work with," she said.

Mercedes looked at them for a moment before she nodded her head toward a Latina. "Santana," she said. The Latina gave a little smirk and went and joined her.

"Blaine?" McKenzie said.

"Artie," he said immediately. The man in the wheelchair held a soft smile as he made his way over to him. Blaine had a reason for this decision. Artie knew a lot about the film industry and he had quite a good knack for figuring out how to pull off complicated designs. The one time Blaine was paired with him, they had won top team.

"Will?" McKenzie said next.

"I'll go with Shannon," Will said, watching the older woman come and join him happily. The two of them seemed to get along fairly well in the competition. So it was really no surprise.

McKenzie nodded to Mercedes and the dark-skinned woman tapped her chin. "Ryder," she said and younger guy joined her and Santana with his hands in his pockets.

"Tina," Blaine said next, grinning at the Asian girl who he had also gotten along with fairly well. He had been sad to see her go when she had been eliminated a few weeks earlier.

"Finn," Will said with a nod of his head toward the extremely tall man. Finn may not have been the brightest of people but he had been the biggest encouragement. Him and Will together had been a real encouraging pair, never putting anyone down.

"Quinn," Mercedes said next and the blonde moved to join her, Ryder, and Santana who slapped a high five with Quinn. Blaine was okay with that, he didn't really want to work with Quinn. She was nice enough he supposed but they clashed a lot. Their styles were just too different.

"Sam," Blaine said with a smile, choosing the final member of his team, yet another former contestant he got on well with. The blonde guy smiled back with his big mouth and Blaine almost laughed.

"I guess I get Rachel than," Will said fondly as the last remaining contestant joined his team. Rachel seemed all too happy to work with Finn and well, Blaine was just glad she wasn't going on a tangent about how she was wrongfully eliminated. She'd actually taken it rather well. Rachel was a diva of course.

As for the rest of the former contestants, they'd been voted off too soon to make this cut.

"All right," McKenzie started again. "You have your teams to help you out. Remember, your makeups have to be cohesive. They don't necessary have to go with the other teams' makeups but they do have to go together. The artist is trusting you with free creative reign. The papers you have drawn have also given you the name of the number you are designing for so the makeups will fit the feel of the number. Now, you will meet who you are designing for and get some of their ideas. After that, you will have half an hour to sketch before returning to the lab. Good luck. Here are your models."

Blaine hadn't looked at his paper yet. Neither had Mercedes or Will. But it took all his resolve not to squeal like a fanboy when the six models came out and leading the pack was none other than Katy Perry.

"Designers, please welcome international recording artist, Katy Perry." Blaine, Will, and Mercedes all applauded tremendously.

"Thank you, I'm so thrilled to be here and have you designing for me and my dancers," Katy said. "Allow me to introduce them. Behind me are Brittany, Mike, Jake, and Marley. And beside me," she went on, clapping a hand on the shoulder of a tall slender pale man who Blaine suddenly found he couldn't take his eyes off of. "Is my lead male dancer Kurt."

Kurt. The name just rolled around like a ball in Blaine's head and he just couldn't stop the slight gasp that came out of his mouth then, causing Kurt to turn and look directly at him. Their eyes connected and there was a spark. A short side glance told Blaine that Katy had a knowing look on her face. Kurt just continued to stand there staring at him until McKenzie's voice brought them all back to the present.

"Designers you may read your papers," she said. Blaine unfolded the piece of paper in his hands. He felt his breath catch as he looked at it. It was printed with 'Katy & Kurt' and below it, 'Dark Horse'.

Katy Perry. He was going to design a makeup for Katy freakin' Perry herself and he got to stare at a beautiful boy at the same time. Or beautiful man actually.

He swallowed the lump that had started to form in his throat.

"Designers, you have fifteen minutes to converse with your models and find out what they have in mind. After that you will have thirty minutes to sketch and then head back to the lab," McKenzie said.

Blaine wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and lead Artie, Sam, and Tina over to the woman herself.

"Hi," he said, surprised at how controlled his voice was. "I'm Blaine. I'll be your designer. This is Artie, Sam, and Tina," he went on, smiling.

Katy took his hand and oh God he was shaking Katy Perry's hand. "Pleasure to meet you Blaine. Now, Kurt and I are open to your creative freedom so we just have a general want with this," Blaine nodded his head.

"Okay," he said.

"We'd like a dark princess and sorcerer deal. But how you'd like to execute it is up to you," Kurt picked up and Blaine found himself falling in love with the man's angelic melodious voice. He had to check himself before he could speak again.

"I can definitely do that. Dark Horse is a darker song so there should be a lot of dark but at the same time, it needs to be creative to the point where it pops," he said, using his competition issued tablet to take down notes. "Also, a concert arena is very dark so we'll need a way for the audience to capture every essence of the makeup," he went on. "Something that won't be detracted from with stage lights while at the same time being enhanced by them."

Katy and Kurt were both nodding their heads in agreement and they looked rather excited for what Blaine was already thinking.

"That already sounds fantastic," Katy said. Blaine smiled at her. "I can't wait to see what you come up with."

Blaine shook their hands and before he knew it, Katy and Kurt were heading out along with the other four dancers, Kurt watching Blaine over his shoulder until they disappeared completely.

Blaine, Artie, Sam, and Tina took up a corner of the stage and took out sketch pads and pencils.

"Okay so I was thinking it needs to be a darker pallet," Blaine said as he started to sketch a rough outline of something. "But black is overused so we're going to focus on blue-black and purples instead," he went on.

"Excellent thinking yo," Artie said. Blaine grinned up at him.

"I think their head pieces should include horse ears and they should have tails added to bottom half of the costume," Tina piped up.

Blaine was nodding along to this. "Almost like they're a race of horse people, different from centaurs," he noted as he started sketching the ears into the drawing.

For Katy, he designed a simple towel that came down into an Egyptian style point in the middle of her forehead with a gem set to hang off the tip. The horse ears would come up out of the towel. It would cover her full head and allow for her hair to flow out the top in a long pony tail.

For the face he sketched a blend of human features and horse features, forming a humanoid version of a horse's face. Hooves were to be fabricated for the hands and feet and a tail was drawn coming out of the back of the Egyptian style pants. The exposed skin was to be painted a blue-back tone color with white for the underbelly.

For Kurt, he gave him the same body tone, hooves, and tail but his face was extended more defining as a horse's snout and the towel was to be designed as a sorcerer's hat with horse ears protruding from it. It would also be a full headed towel.

Kurt's costuming would merely be a loose pair of Egyptian style pants. His chest would be bare. But Blaine sketched a three star tattoo like pattern in a dark purple on a few spots of his chest.

By the time they were moving to the lab to start work for the four hours they had in there that first day, Blaine was feeling rather confident with his design. It was simple, creative, elegant, and not so heavy that it would be difficult to move around in. He didn't want to bulk the makeup because something too heavy on the model would not be easy to dance in. Especially for a dance such as one to Dark Horse.

When they arrived at the lab, he set Tina to work on the princess' face, Sam the princess' towel, and Artie the sorcerer's towel while Blaine himself set to work sculpting the sorcerer's face. With each of them working on the two most crucial parts of each costume, they could hopefully have good time management and get the four pieces molded and prepped for painting quickly.

After that, Blaine would just need to fabricate hooves. It shouldn't take too long to make eight of them. They could each make two, if Blaine didn't end up making them all himself.

"Hey guys!" came McKenzie's voice about half-way through their time in the lab that day. She was with her father Michael, there for their usual walk through. "We're here for a walk through to see what you guys have come up with."

Blaine kept one eye on his sculpt and the other watching McKenzie and her dad talking to Mercedes and Will.

"Ouch!" Tina suddenly declared, letting out an expletive. Blaine turned from his work to look at her. She had somehow managed to cut herself with the shaping tool.

"Hurry and go wash that off and bandage it up," Blaine said. Tina nodded resolutely and ran for the bathroom just as McKenzie and Michael approached them.

"Hi Blaine," McKenzie said, glancing over at Tina as she disappeared into the bathroom. "She okay?"

Blaine nodded. "She cut herself with the shaping tool," he said.

"Do you want to tell us about your concept?" Michael asked.

"Well, Katy and Kurt said they just had a generalization," Blaine started. "They wanted a dark princess and a sorcerer. And then they gave complete creative freedom so I decided to directly incorporate the title of the song into my concept. They'll both be horses with dark colors."

Michael nodded his head and pointed at Blaine's sculpt. "If this one is meant to be more horse, I would elongate the nose a bit more so that the face looks less like a human with a big nose and maybe actually mold it as a horse's snout instead of a human's nose."

"Right, right, okay," Blaine said, giving his head a nod.

"Otherwise I think you have a great concept and I can't wait to see where you take it," Michael went on. Blaine beamed and went back to work just as Tina came back.

"All right guys, looking good in here. We'll let you get back to it," McKenzie said as she and her dad left.

The second two hours seemed to fly by and by then, Blaine had both towels molded and he and Tina were nearly done sculpting the faces.

"That's time!" Will called. The twelve of them hurried out of the lab and returned to the house. Blaine was feeling pretty confident about his work.

The next day they had ten hours in the lab and things were not getting off to a great start. Part of Blaine's face sculpt had been exposed to the air overnight as it was somehow not properly covered and as a result was hardened into dry clay. He ended up having to chip it off and do his best to use fresh clay to reform the spot and blend it with the rest of the sculpt.

About two hours in, the next red light hit them. Tina was in the molding room with her face sculpt when the head mannequin toppled over onto her hand, the one that had been cut the day before.

"Tina are you okay?" Sam asked, running over to help her as she let out another expletive.

"No," she said. "My hand." Sam moved to lift up the mannequin head which wasn't really that heavy but it hand landed pretty hard on Tina's hand and it was already starting to swell.

Sam cursed. "Okay, I think you need to go to the hospital," he said. Tina shook her head.

"No, I have to do this for Blaine," she said.

Blaine was coming into the molding room with his face sculpt then. "Go Tina," he said. "Sam can finish molding that. You need to get that looked at."

Tina gave a slow nod of her head before she carefully hugged both of them apologetically and moved to hurry out the door.

With Tina off to the emergency room, Blaine was now down one person and he set Sam to work finishing Tina's face mold and Artie molding his so that he could start fabricating the hooves.

Blaine was glad he had Sam and Artie molding the last two pieces for him because fabricating the hooves was taking more time than he had anticipated. He needed them all to be the same size and shape. The ones for Kurt were meant to be bigger than the ones for Katy because she was a female and he was a male.

By the time he was satisfied with the hooves and both faces were molded and ready, he had merely two hours left in the lab to prep the pieces for painting and that required snipping off excess material and making sure the hole in the top of the female towel was wide enough to fit Katy's hair in a high pony.

By the time he called time two hours later, Blaine was exhausted. Tina had not returned from the hospital and he was really worried about her. He fell into bed early that night, dreaming of Kurt for some reason. The two of them were waltzing around the stage. It had Blaine smiling in his sleep.

The next day was application day. They had four hours in the lab and then one hour for last looks at the Staples Center.

Blaine was sorting out his paint, brushes, and sponges when Katy and her dancers entered the lab. Tina had returned for application but she was one-handed and that could cause a delay.

Blaine smiled brightly at Katy and Kurt, trying to appear less nervous than he actually was.

"Okay, so the two of you are literally going to be dark horses," he said, showing them the towels with the ears.

"Oh wow," Katy said. "I didn't think any of you would think of taking the title to make a literal concept. I like it."

"Me too," Kurt said, smiling ever so softly at Blaine. Blaine stood there gawking at him with googly eyes for a moment. Kurt was wearing a black tank top and black pants, much like the usual models wore when they came in for application.

Blaine shook himself off and directed Kurt to the chair beside him and Artie while Katy was put in Sam and Tina's hands. He had to remember to breathe as he set to work with Kurt's transformation, particularly when he pulled the tank top off his lithe figure.

Blaine had Artie applying the hooves and sponge painting Kurt's arms up to his shoulders because he was in a wheelchair and couldn't really reach as high. He carefully applied the glue for the prosthetic pieces and made sure the towel was down tight over his head, completely covering Kurt's hair.

"Mmm, you look hot enough to kiss," Blaine let out as he began to paint color into the towel. He froze and clapped a hand to his mouth. Kurt flushed bright red, Katy chuckled, and out of the corner of his eye. Blaine noticed Sam and Tina shaking their heads fondly. "I'm sorry, that was inappropriate," he said.

"It's only inappropriate if the comment is unwanted," Kurt deadpanned, making it Blaine's turn to flush red. Kurt smirked triumphantly and Blaine decided it was time to hide that smirk so he put down the paint and went into applying the face.

The four hours of application in the lab seemed to fly by and Blaine was relieved that he would be able to use the last hour for paint detail. He still had to add the dark purple stars to Kurt's chest. Luckily, he had created a stencil for that. He could just place it on Kurt's chest and spray paint the stars in.

Kits were packed up eighteen people - twelve artists, six models - made the track to the Staples Center for the final hour of last looks before they needed to take the stage.

The moment they got back stage, Blaine pushed Kurt down into a chair and started going in with an airbrush for fine detail and moving on to the stars for the finishing touch.

Out of the corner of his eye, he became aware that Will was behind. He, Shannon, Finn, and Rachel were rush painting Jake and Marley. Points would get docked for a sloppy paint job. Mercedes' team seemed to be better with time management but they were struggling to get parts of the makeup to stay in place. Blaine was aware that he seemed to be the only one not having any major issues. Except Tina was having difficulties painting in fine detail one-handed.

The hour flew by. "That's time guys!" Mercedes called out. This was it. The final reveal and at the end of the night, one of them would be the winner of Face Off.

Blaine felt his body tense as the lot of them prepared for the reveal stage. Kurt awkwardly reached out to give Blaine's hand a squeeze through the hoof.

"Good luck gorgeous," he said before he followed Katy out.

Blaine felt his heart swell as he, Mercedes, Will, and the rest of their teams went to sit in the audience and McKenzie appeared on stage.

"Good evening everyone!" she called out. The mass crowd cheered. "I know you're all so excited for Katy Perry to kick off her concert tonight but first we have a very special thing for you. Welcome to the finale of Face Off!" Again the crowd cheered. Blaine was surprised there were so many fans of the show there.

"This season our finalists were asked to design and create a makeup for Katy Perry and her dancers," McKenzie went on. "Tonight we will see how those makeups hold up in action, but first we have to see what they came up with. Allow me to introduce you to our panel of judges. Owner and founder of Optic Nerve Studios, Glenn Hetrick."

"Hey guys," the man said with a nod of his head, playing with his pen.

"Two time Oscar winner Ve Neill," McKenzie continued, pointing to the blonde woman.

"Hi guys," she said with a smile.

"And creature and concept designer, Neville Page," McKenzie finished.

"Hey," Neville said, giving his head a slight nod.

McKenzie turned to face the designers. "All right let's see what you came up with!"

The lights dimmed and the Face Off reveal theme began to play as the dancers came out one pair at a time, starting with Jake and Marley.

Will had gone with inspirations taken from the dark forest. Jake and Marley were supposed to be living dead trees. It was very creative and very well sculpted but the paint job was obviously rushed and looked rather sloppy from afar. They had been crunched for time at the end. Blaine didn't want to know how poor it would appear close up.

Mercedes' dancers, Mike and Brittany were next. Blaine wasn't surprised. He had the main two after all. Mercedes had gone with a dark fairy theme. Her models has sparkles and shades of dark blue and sapphire wings. While it was well executed, some of her additives did not appear very secure. The things they were having trouble getting to stay on. Blaine squeezed her hand.

Finally, out came Kurt and Katy and the audience cheered when they realized the female was their idol. Blaine felt a warm proud glow in his gut. He had done that. The two of them looked absolutely awesome and cohesive. And the stars Blaine had added to Kurt's chest stood out and gave him the extra something he was going for.

"Judges, why don't you come and take a closer look," McKenzie said after all the models had posed. Blaine held his breath and squeezed Mercedes' hand tighter as Glenn, Ve, and Neville walked up to get a closer look at the makeups. This was always the part that unnerved him the most. You never knew exactly what they were saying in close context about the designs.

He watched them go from one model to the next until they were studying Kurt and Katy and Blaine watched as Ve pointed out detail with her fingers and Glenn nodded his head and Neville asked them to turn around so they could see it from the back.

"All right. Our judges would like to speak with each of you to find out more about your work," McKenzie said when the judges had taken their seats again. "Will, you're up first." Will got up from his seat and walked onto the stage. Jake and Marley came to stand behind him.

"Why don't you tell us more about the design and concept for this makeup?" Neville said.

Will began to gesture to Jake and Marley. "Well, I figured it's a song about dark horses so they would probably run through a dark forest and Jake and Marley told me they wanted to feel like nature come to life," he said. "So I made them dead trees from a dark forest that sinister magic had animated to life."

It was Glenn who spoke up first. "The sculpting detail is very very good and the concept is unique, however I feel like because the paint job falls short, you bit off more than you could chew."

Will nodded and Ve picked up. "Yeah, you had three people helping you, how did you end up so crunched for time?" she asked.

"I admit it was probably a bad decision but we were all kind of working on one element at a time because I felt more hands working on the detail of the dead bark would get it done quicker. But we all have different ways of working and that didn't work out so well."

"It's really a shame," Ve responded. "This has the potential to be a really outstanding makeup and the paint job just kind of ruined it a bit."

Again, Will nodded. And Neville moved to have his say. "You know, the paint job matches the concept though, but not particularly in a glamorous way. They're dead trees with a dead paint job. It could have been managed better. But otherwise well done," he said.

"Will you may step back," McKenzie said. "Mercedes, you're up."

Mercedes got up and walked up onto the stage. Mike and Brittany came to stand behind her.

"Tell us about this makeup and your concept," Ve said.

"I get a sense of a strong dark magic about the song and they both wanted something fun," Mercedes started, "So I went with dancers that were mystical creatures. Dark fairies that dance in the dark forest in the night," she went on.

"I think it's really a brilliant execution of a dark fairy," Ve said.

"Thank you," Mercedes said with a grin.

"And I love that you were able to execute an eye catching makeup with simplicity in the facial and head sculpt. Well done."

"Thank you," Mercedes said again.

Neville turned his head to the side and pointed at Mike. "Can you turn around for a moment please?" The dancer did, displaying the mismatched placing of his wings. "That right there, was that done purposely?"

Mercedes cringed slightly. "No, we were having issues trying to get parts of the costuming to stay on so some things had to be hastily glued into place at the end," she admitted.

"And that is what concerns me," Glenn said as Neville nodded. "I worry that because not all the elements of the costume are firmly secure, something is going to fall off during the performance. It's really disheartening because I feel this concept was executed really well. It just wasn't put together as best as it can be."

"Right, okay," Mercedes said.

"Mercedes you can step back," McKenzie said. "Blaine, you're up."

Blaine felt Tina and Sam pat him on the shoulder as he stood from his seat and moved to walk up onto the stage. Kurt and Katy came up to join him and he felt Kurt slide his hand into his and give it another gentle squeeze.

"Why don't you tell us more about the design and concept of this makeup?" Glenn said.

Blaine drew a breath. "Well, Kurt and Katy said they wanted to do a dark princess and sorcerer so I decided instead of incorporating the tone of the song, I was going to incorporate it literally. So Kurt is a sorcerer who belongs to a race of people who are part horse, part human and he kidnapped this human princess and put a spell on her to turn her into part horse as well. And the colors are blue-black and dark purples."

The three judges were quite impressed with his direction. Blaine had the most detail for his concept.

"I really really like how you incorporated the title on a literal sense," Neville said. "And the fact that it was done with the two leads in the performance makes it more perfect."

"Thank you very much," Blaine said.

Glenn pointed at Katy with his pen. "Would you turn around for me please?" She did and he continued pointing with his pen. "I really loved how you took her hair and turned it into the horse's mane by having it come out the top like that and the tails, the tails look very realistic. This makeup is really well done. I'm impressed Blaine."

Blaine just grinned widely at him, feeling elated at the praise.

"One thing I really like," Ve said, "Is the fact that you didn't sculpt the towels and faces exactly the same. They look different and still like they belong to the same tribe of people. It's just like every person is different. Can I ask who did what for you?" she continued.

Blaine started to gesture to his two models. "I made the face for the sorcerer, the hooves for both and most of the paint job but only because Artie couldn't get to the top." Artie laughed. "Artie sculpted the sorcerer's towel, Tina did the face for the princess and Sam did the towel for the princess. They both painted her."

Ve nodded her head. "So you basically had two people do one and two people do the other?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am. Although we lost Tina for most of day two as she crushed her hand but it all worked out in the end."

"I'm really impressed at the cohesiveness in the paint job considered they were done by two different sets of people," Glenn said.

"Blaine you may step back," McKenzie said, smiling at him and Blaine let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Kurt gave his hand one more squeeze as he left the stage. "And now it's time for a concert before the judges make up their minds. Enjoy the show."

Blaine would be lying if he said the concert wasn't amazing but the most proud part for him was for Dark Horse when he was watching Katy Perry dancing in something he made for her. And Kurt was the most exquisite dancer he had ever seen. Though maybe that was because he was falling for the man and he had barely said any words to him. The others danced really spectacularly as well.

After the concert was over and the arena had emptied, it was just McKenzie, the artists, and the judges. Blaine stood on the stage once more, along with Will and Mercedes. The other nine artists sat in the audience still. The judges and McKenzie had discussed the makeups and were ready to make their decision and name a winner.

"This season of Face Off has been one of our best yet," McKenzie said. She turned to look at the panel of judges. "Glenn, you want to tell us about how everything went?"

Glenn sat with is hands folded on the table in front of him as usual. "Tonight we saw spectacular makeups and Mercedes, you lucked out tonight when nothing seemed to fall off," he said, nodding to her. "Will, your concept was brilliant and well executed with amazing sculpting but your paint job left something to be desired. Mercedes, your makeup captured the essence of a dark mystical forest, but the appliance of some parts was poorly executed. Blaine, you took a different kind of approach and ultimately had the most cohesive makeup of the bunch that was stunning and well thought out, but was it enough to claim a win?"

"All right judges," McKenzie said. "Who is the winner of Face Off?"

"The winner of Face off is…," Glenn started again, pausing for dramatic effect as he usually did. "…Blaine." Blaine's knees nearly buckled as he collapsed with the overwhelming joy and surprise of having won the show. "Your concept was well thought out, stunningly executed, and moved fluidly and flawlessly in the dance routine. Well done and congratulations."

Mercedes and Will were both applauding him and Blaine was grinning and thanking the judges a million times profusely. He could hardly believe it.

"Congratulations Blaine," McKenzie said, holding out a set of keys as confetti rained down on them. "Here are the keys to your new Fiat 500. You are the winner of Face Off and along with the car you have won, $25,000 worth of Alcone makeup, $100,000 in cash, and a chance to be a guest speaker at Make up for Ever Academy in New York and Paris."

Blaine took the key with tears in his eyes as he was surrounded in a mass hug by his fellow contestants. He had won.

Later, when Blaine was leaving the Staples Center, preparing to return to the Face Off house and pack up to go home, he was stopped by a sudden voice.

"I heard you won," Blaine turned to find Kurt leaning against the wall, dressed impeccably but still casually. He was so incredibly gorgeous as himself. It was strange to see him that way again.

"Shouldn't you have left on Katy's bus?" Blaine asked. "I mean, she is on tour."

Kurt shrugged and smiled softly at him. "She gave me the next month off," he said nonchalantly. Blaine opened his mouth to say something. "Mike can fill in for me while I'm gone. He used to be lead anyway," he reassured him, stepping forward and reaching out to take Blaine's hands in his. "I'm more interested in you right now."

Blaine felt his cheeks go warm. "Would you like to get some coffee? I know a place that's open twenty-four hours," he said boldly.

That soft smile returned to Kurt's face. "I'd like that very much," he said. "And Blaine?" he prompted, leaning in ever closer. Blaine felt his breath catch.

"Yeah?" he asked in a whispery voice.

"I think I'm falling in love with you," Kurt replied just as quiet before he closed the distance and sealed their lips together and Blaine suddenly felt like winning Face Off didn't matter. He felt like it didn't matter because he had just won something even better.

Kurt's heart.

* * *

By the time Chris finished the story, Cerina's eyes were barely open. A hand to her forehead told him the Tylenol had kicked in as she felt cooler than she had before the story.

"I think the Tylenol is working," he said as the little girl yawned and coughed a bit.

"Good," Darren replied, looking relieved. "We'll check her temperature again later. Right now I think it's time for her to rest." Chris nodded his head.

Cerina gripped her blanket with both hands. "It's true daddy," she said in a raspy voice as Chris started to tuck her in more and brushed her curls back from her face.

"What's true pumpkin?" he asked.

"That winning Kurt's heart is a bigger prize than all that other stuff," she replied, looking between her parents. Chris and Darren glanced at each other and chuckled lightly.

"How very right you are," Darren said, leaning over to peck his daughter on the forehead. "Now sleep this sickness out little one and tomorrow you get another story from me. What letter are we at tomorrow?" he prompted.

Cerina yawned again. "G papa," she said.

"Very good," Darren replied. He pecked her forehead one more time and stood up. Chris followed suit, also pecking his daughter on the forehead.

"Feel better princess." He took Darren's hand and the two of them left the room, leaving Cerina to drift off to sick healing sleep.


End file.
